ID :
204848
Fri, 09/02/2011 - 09:42
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https://oananews.org//node/204848
The shortlink copeid
S. Korean footballer firming his presence in Europe
(Yonhap Feature)
By Bryan Kay
Contributing Writer
EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- It was not so long ago that Ki Sung-yueng was a sometimes unhappy bystander on the Celtic Park sidelines. For a time, the South Korean international, who shifted to Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Celtic in late 2009, was in and out of manager Neil Lennon's starting 11, unable to nail down a regular spot. He was seen as a talent with potential but not yet quite up to the rigors of a full 90 minutes in the rough and tumble of Scottish football.
But with the 2011-12 season just a few games old and midfielder Ki one of the first names on Lennon's teamsheet, it's not so much a case of if he will make the Celtic starting line-up as whether he will still be around in Glasgow much longer in order to do his boss a turn.
The former Asian Young Player of the Year is now starting to turn heads in Europe's major leagues. And recent weeks saw him attract the most glowing recommendation yet -- from Lennon, the man with the most to lose if or when he leaves last season's Scottish Cup winners.
"I think he will get the club a lot of money one day," Lennon, a former Celtic midfielder himself, told reporters at a recent media conference. "He is a real asset for the club now, a wonderful footballer.
"Ki has everything you would want in the modern-day midfield player. He is 6-foot-2, a fantastic athlete and very good on the ball under pressure. He is good at passing, excellent with both feet and has a goal in him ... We think he can turn out to be a world-class player."
His assessment appears to be one shared in England. The month of August saw Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur of the Premier League credited with an interest in taking him south of the English-Scottish border, and there are also reports of suitors in Russia.
Celtic, though, do not want to lose him. "I think there has been well-documented interest in the lad and rightly so. He is a terrific player with a massive future but not one we are looking to get out the door," first team coach Alan Thompson said.
It is perhaps little wonder Celtic officials are worried. Ki could not have got the new campaign off to a better start. He started every one of Celtic's opening seven fixtures -- including two Europa League ties -- scoring two goals, one a spectacular finish against last season's fourth-placed SPL side Dundee United in a 5-1 win. Against Aberdeen, in the second game of the season before a live TV audience, he was the driving force behind a narrow 1-0 win for his team.
The addition of experienced fellow South Korean international Cha Du-ri to the Celtic ranks not long after him has been credited with turning around his fortunes. Manager Lennon says the cultural divide between the Scottish and Korean cultures was a massive gap to bridge -- 31-year-old Cha's familiarity with Europe from his time in Germany and more advanced years likely proving a linchpin in the process. So Lennon, the veteran of many seasons in England's top flight, says he took the 22-year-old under his own wing, adding: "To be honest, Cha Du-ri signing helped him a lot too. He then had a buddy from his own country to hang out with away from the club."
Perhaps those who took the most convincing were the average supporters, the ordinary people plowing their hard-earned cash into the club every week in order to follow their heroes. That's no mean feat: followers of Celtic and their city rivals Glasgow Rangers, collectively known as the Old Firm for their dominance of Scottish football over the last 100-plus years, are considered amongst the most hard-to-please fans in the world.
"I've been impressed with the way he has developed," said 41-year-old Celtic supporter Matt Stevenson. "He was a bit hot and cold to start with, but he has two good feet and has been great so far this season. I think he will end up in the Premier League in England. To be honest, I think he could maybe even at least do as well as Park Ji-sung."
The influential Scottish press, too, have been unequivocal in their praise of Ki. "The growth of Ki Sung-yueng from a talent into an accomplished midfielder has been another bonus for Lennon," wrote the award-winning sportswriter Hugh MacDonald of The Herald, a Scottish national newspaper. "The South Korean is such a dedicated trainer that Lennon has advised him to take the occasional day off to replenish the battery. The 22-year-old's work ethic, though, has produced improvements that are attracting outside interest."
No less a talent than Park, the Manchester United midfielder and South Korea's most famous footballing product, reckons such outside interest could lead all the way to the top. Park, some might say, should know. They played together in the South Korean national team and Park, of course, has played in the most successful English team of modern times for the last six years.
Last year, he compared Ki to Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, saying if he could overcome the problems he had been experiencing in Glasgow in his battle to cement a starting place in Celtic's first team, then he could crack England's Premier League.
More than 12 months on, Ki is now fulfilling that requisite. And there will be few who will deny his commitment. Just days prior to Celtic's recent encounter with Dundee United, Ki had played the full 90 minutes in the Japanese city Sapporo as Korea took on Japan in a 3-0 loss. Then he flew the nearly 6,000 miles back to Scotland for the league game.
"I was seeing two footballs at times. I can't even remember what my goal looked like because I was too tired," Ki said. "There was such a big time difference that when I played the game it was actually time for me to sleep. I didn't expect to get a full game but it is a privilege to play, especially at Celtic Park, so I had to keep going. I was never going to ask to come off."
On that evidence, no one can accuse him of not coping with the rough and tumble anymore.
bryan_s_kay@hotmail.com
By Bryan Kay
Contributing Writer
EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- It was not so long ago that Ki Sung-yueng was a sometimes unhappy bystander on the Celtic Park sidelines. For a time, the South Korean international, who shifted to Scottish Premier League side Glasgow Celtic in late 2009, was in and out of manager Neil Lennon's starting 11, unable to nail down a regular spot. He was seen as a talent with potential but not yet quite up to the rigors of a full 90 minutes in the rough and tumble of Scottish football.
But with the 2011-12 season just a few games old and midfielder Ki one of the first names on Lennon's teamsheet, it's not so much a case of if he will make the Celtic starting line-up as whether he will still be around in Glasgow much longer in order to do his boss a turn.
The former Asian Young Player of the Year is now starting to turn heads in Europe's major leagues. And recent weeks saw him attract the most glowing recommendation yet -- from Lennon, the man with the most to lose if or when he leaves last season's Scottish Cup winners.
"I think he will get the club a lot of money one day," Lennon, a former Celtic midfielder himself, told reporters at a recent media conference. "He is a real asset for the club now, a wonderful footballer.
"Ki has everything you would want in the modern-day midfield player. He is 6-foot-2, a fantastic athlete and very good on the ball under pressure. He is good at passing, excellent with both feet and has a goal in him ... We think he can turn out to be a world-class player."
His assessment appears to be one shared in England. The month of August saw Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur of the Premier League credited with an interest in taking him south of the English-Scottish border, and there are also reports of suitors in Russia.
Celtic, though, do not want to lose him. "I think there has been well-documented interest in the lad and rightly so. He is a terrific player with a massive future but not one we are looking to get out the door," first team coach Alan Thompson said.
It is perhaps little wonder Celtic officials are worried. Ki could not have got the new campaign off to a better start. He started every one of Celtic's opening seven fixtures -- including two Europa League ties -- scoring two goals, one a spectacular finish against last season's fourth-placed SPL side Dundee United in a 5-1 win. Against Aberdeen, in the second game of the season before a live TV audience, he was the driving force behind a narrow 1-0 win for his team.
The addition of experienced fellow South Korean international Cha Du-ri to the Celtic ranks not long after him has been credited with turning around his fortunes. Manager Lennon says the cultural divide between the Scottish and Korean cultures was a massive gap to bridge -- 31-year-old Cha's familiarity with Europe from his time in Germany and more advanced years likely proving a linchpin in the process. So Lennon, the veteran of many seasons in England's top flight, says he took the 22-year-old under his own wing, adding: "To be honest, Cha Du-ri signing helped him a lot too. He then had a buddy from his own country to hang out with away from the club."
Perhaps those who took the most convincing were the average supporters, the ordinary people plowing their hard-earned cash into the club every week in order to follow their heroes. That's no mean feat: followers of Celtic and their city rivals Glasgow Rangers, collectively known as the Old Firm for their dominance of Scottish football over the last 100-plus years, are considered amongst the most hard-to-please fans in the world.
"I've been impressed with the way he has developed," said 41-year-old Celtic supporter Matt Stevenson. "He was a bit hot and cold to start with, but he has two good feet and has been great so far this season. I think he will end up in the Premier League in England. To be honest, I think he could maybe even at least do as well as Park Ji-sung."
The influential Scottish press, too, have been unequivocal in their praise of Ki. "The growth of Ki Sung-yueng from a talent into an accomplished midfielder has been another bonus for Lennon," wrote the award-winning sportswriter Hugh MacDonald of The Herald, a Scottish national newspaper. "The South Korean is such a dedicated trainer that Lennon has advised him to take the occasional day off to replenish the battery. The 22-year-old's work ethic, though, has produced improvements that are attracting outside interest."
No less a talent than Park, the Manchester United midfielder and South Korea's most famous footballing product, reckons such outside interest could lead all the way to the top. Park, some might say, should know. They played together in the South Korean national team and Park, of course, has played in the most successful English team of modern times for the last six years.
Last year, he compared Ki to Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, saying if he could overcome the problems he had been experiencing in Glasgow in his battle to cement a starting place in Celtic's first team, then he could crack England's Premier League.
More than 12 months on, Ki is now fulfilling that requisite. And there will be few who will deny his commitment. Just days prior to Celtic's recent encounter with Dundee United, Ki had played the full 90 minutes in the Japanese city Sapporo as Korea took on Japan in a 3-0 loss. Then he flew the nearly 6,000 miles back to Scotland for the league game.
"I was seeing two footballs at times. I can't even remember what my goal looked like because I was too tired," Ki said. "There was such a big time difference that when I played the game it was actually time for me to sleep. I didn't expect to get a full game but it is a privilege to play, especially at Celtic Park, so I had to keep going. I was never going to ask to come off."
On that evidence, no one can accuse him of not coping with the rough and tumble anymore.
bryan_s_kay@hotmail.com
