K-League Star to Jump Ship to Japan?

Lee Chun-soo (Age 25, Ulsan Hyundai), the leading star of Korean professional football, the K-League, is receiving wide attention on whether he will move to Japan’s J-League.

Japanese sports news outlet Sports Nippon reported on December 25, “Yokohama, which hopes to spring back next season, has put Korean national football player Lee Chun-soo on top of their recruiting list in order to strengthen their offense.” It added, “The team has already contacted Lee Chun-soo’s agent and is negotiating an annual pay of 100 million yen (780 million won).” It said that a representative from the Yokohama team contacted Lee Chun-soo’s agent when he was visiting Japan for the Federal International Football Association (FIFA) Club World Cup on December 10 to 17. This newspaper also reported that, “Lee Chun-soo, who is aggressive and competitive, will act as a stimulator for the Yokohama Marinos. Lee has shown strong interest in joining the J-League, so he may be willing to concede to factors such as pay.”

Lee Chun-soo, one of the principal figures in Korea making it to the semi-finals in the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002 joined Spain’s Real Sociedad in 2003, but failed to adjust and in 2004 moved to Numancia before returning to Ulsan. Lee Chun-soo is hoping to use J-League play as a stepping stone to return to the European League.

Regarding this, an Ulsan Hyundai representative said, “We plan to help Lee Chun-soo’s going abroad as much as we possibly can.” But he added, “Our team has never formally been in contact with Yokohama, and the recruiting conditions that are being discussed are not acceptable, so at the moment, the chances of Lee changing teams are low.”

In truth, an annual pay of 100 million yen is an insufficient amount for Lee Chun-soo. Lee is known to receive K League’s highest pay of one billion won.

jaeyuna@donga.com