Players Dong-Won Ji Premier League club Sunderland are lining up a move for young Korean international Ji Dong-Won, according to Korean reports. Ilgan Sports have reported the 20-year-old Chunnam Dragons striker is set to be offered a three-year contract by the Black Cats, although agreeing on a transfer fee may be a stumbling block. However, according to Goal.com sources, Chunnam boss Jung Hae-Seong is unaware of any approach from the Black Cats. Ji, who scored four goals for Korea at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, has previous experience in England having had a spell at Reading from 2007 to 2008. Sunderland are understood to have been monitoring Ji's progress since February, along with English clubs Newcastle and Fulham. Ji has nine senior caps with the Korean national team, scoring five goals and is currently with the Taegeuk Warriors who are preparing to face Serbia and Ghana in friendlies this week. The young striker scored 13 goals in 29 appearances in all competitions for Chunnam last season, while he has managed one strike so far this term. Thoughs lads as ive never heard of him
I have just read this also but again its just rumours, but maybe Bruce is turning to Asia rather than S.America
We need an Asian player, for marketing purposes. That's not to say the lad might not be a good player, Korea have some exceptionally talented lads now, look at the one's in the PL and across Europe. Could see it happen for both of the above reasons, although i know nowt of this lad. We coul have a look at Keisuke Honda for the left wing issue, 2 birds one stone.
Forget about marketing potential etc, I don't really care where a player comes from as long as he has ability. I don't know anything about this lad to be honest, but I would hate to think that we would just sign a player for marketing potential.
While i appreciate the sentiments RAW, it is absolutely essential that we market the club in order to enter profit, and if we want to kick on any further. Ellis can't/won't bankroll us every year forever, Manchester United signed Park for this exact reason, and look how it turned out! Before United, PSV signed Park for the same reason. I'm sure anyone we signed would need to have a bit of ability as well.
I know where you are coming from BB, but for me the marketing potential has to be matched by ability. In my opinion Park matches that criteria.
Aye, but when United signed him, i don't imagine they expected him to have such an impact at the club. This is why i think Honda's the one, he's a top drawer player, left footed, lethal from free kicks, and would also tap the fanatical Japanese market. I'm amazed we haven't looked in that direction, genuinely amazed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SyUdXaoagM Looks decent on the ball, but not stand out, and this is youtube! As for Mr Honda.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Tqb6YexwM&feature=fvsr Honda, icidentally, stands 6 feet tall, so should be physically up to anything.
I was hoping this article was gonna be Park chu young. Honda is a cracking player, as is Kagawa for Dortmund. How about Lee chung Yong? He has been decent for 2 season's at Bolton, fast skillful and still only 22.
Do you not think we've missed the boat on this, assuming that it is purely for marketing reasons....? Man U have this part of the world pretty well covered IMO....
Man U are part of their Fabric now... Everyones club of choice... For any other club to break into that market would be very difficult....
Bit more too it than that. They aren't like us in the way they follow one club etc, what they would see is one of their heroes in the big league, and they'd buy sirts etc with their names and images on it. You're correct to say we couldn't compete with United in these markets, but that's not to say we can't take a small, but very profitable slice of it. Japan, land of Kasuike Honda, is relatively untapped by the Premier League, he could be a collosal signing on and off the park.
Just double checked his name, great for a song THE DONG ONE To the mexican tune wan tan a mera [spelling] One Dongs a Marra
think this pretty much sums up how little you know about that part of the world. man u are adored by the younger generation, all the new glory seekers, but amongst the older one's liverpool pretty much dominate. the asian market is huge, with arsenal and chelsea also taking a bit part of the market, and there is plenty of room left, especially if a team has some of their native players