Hwang Ui-jo 31, who is struggling with the Premier League challenge, has joined Alagna Spor, his fourth team on loan. Here, he aims to make another leap forward.
Alanyaspor officially announced on the club's official website on the 6th, "I signed a loan transfer contract with Hwang Ui-jo, who was a member of Nottingham Forest, until the end of the season."
The club announced Hwang Ui-jo's joining by posting photos of Hwang Ui-jo wearing a uniform, signing a contract with the club, and taking pictures with the uniform.
Initially, Hwang Ui-jo was living on loan at Norwich City in the English second division Championship, but he had returned to his original team Nottingham Forest due to sluggishness.
However, playing in the Premier League was even more difficult for Hwang, who failed to secure a place in the championship. Eventually, Hwang chose to sign his second lease of the season and headed to Alanyaspor in the Turkiye League.
Hasan Chavushoglu, chairman of Alagna Spor, said, "We have recruited Nottingham striker Hwang Ui-jo. Hwang Ui-jo was a member of the South Korean national soccer team. We think Hwang Ui-jo will be helpful to the team. Our scout team has been watching Hwang Ui-jo the whole time," he said, pleased with the recruitment.
Chairman Chavuschoglu explained that Alanyaspor had been keeping an eye on Hwang Ui-jo for about two years. "About two years ago, it was impossible to recruit Hwang Ui-jo because of the high cost of bringing him in. I had a chance to recruit Hwang Ui-jo on loan in the second half of this season. Good luck to Hwang Ui-jo. There are currently no players who are expected to leave the team just because they are recruiting Hwang Ui-jo," he said.
Hwang Ui-jo, who joined the club, said, "Thank you to everyone, including the chairman, who showed interest in me. I felt welcome from the moment I arrived in Alanyaspor. I will do my best to support Alanyaspor in the field, in training, in games, wherever I go. I can't wait to join the team," he said.
Kim Min-jae, a defender of the Korean national soccer team and a key Bayern Munich center back, is also from the Turkiye League. Kim Min-jae played for Fenerbahce in the Turkiye League for a year before moving to Naples, Italy. At the time, Kim was called the best center back in the league, and his performance allowed him to enter Naples.
When asked if he asked Kim Min-jae about the Turkiye League, Hwang Ui-jo said, "I haven't recently, but I've talked about it before. Kim Min-jae explained that the Turkiye League is a competitive and quite good league. I'm also happy to play in the Turkiye League," and said that he had talked about the Turkiye League with Kim Min-jae in the past.
Fabrizio Romano, an expert on the European soccer transfer market, said on his personal social networking service SNS on the 6th Korea time that Hwang Ui-jo has virtually confirmed his loan transfer to Alagna Spor, Turkiye.
"Turkiye Alanyaspor has reached an agreement to lease Hwang Ui-jo from Nottingham Foretrow. The deal is complete," the reporter said. "The lease is valid until the end of this season, and no full recruitment option is included."
Hwang Ui-jo has already accepted his destination and will leave Nottingham, he added, adding that Hwang Ui-jo's loan transfer is imminent.
Earlier, Yago Sabunkuolu, who is familiar with the news of Turkiye's soccer, said on his personal social media, "Alagospor and Nottingham Forest have agreed to lease Hwang Ui-jo. Alagospor has begun official negotiations with Hwang Ui-jo."
Hwang Ui-jo's career, which was challenged by moving to Nottingham, which was promoted to the Premier League at the end of the transfer window in the summer of 2022, began to get twisted little by little.
Maybe the start is from the transfer process at Bordeaux.
Hwang Ui-jo moved to Girondin Bordeaux, France, in the summer of 2019 and started his European challenge. In the 2019-20 season, his first season as a transfer, his schedule was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so he only scored six goals. He also struggled to adjust as he played as a side wing forward rather than a front-line striker.
However, Hwang Ui-jo was appointed as the front-line striker by coach Jean-Louis Gase, who was in the middle of the second season. Since then, he has shown tremendous scoring pace, scoring double-digit goals 12 in the league for the first time since advancing to the European stage. In the last 2021/22 season, he scored 11 goals, scoring double-digit goals for the second consecutive season despite his team falling into the relegation zone.
When Bordeaux was eventually demoted to the second division, Hwang took on a new challenge. French league teams, including Nantes, Strasbourg, and Montpellier, showed keen interest in the team. All three teams were expected to pay at least 8 million euros about 10 billion won. Also, Germany's Mainz and Portugal's FC Porto showed interest in Hwang. As competition intensified, Hwang's ransom was likely to soar higher than now
However, contrary to rumors of a transfer from the beginning of the summer transfer market, he had difficulty finding a new team and accepted it after receiving a love call from Nottingham, a promotion team in the Premier League.
Hwang immediately began his loan career. He left on a one-year loan to Olympiacos, a prestigious Greek team owned by Nottingham owner Evangelos Maranakis. Hwang seemed to be on the same team, so he would not be too difficult to adjust, but he played 12 official matches, including the Super League, UEFA Europa League, and Greece's FA Cup, and recorded just one assist without scoring a goal.
Hwang Ui-jo, who failed to secure a key position, pushed for a re-lease. However, he had to push for a transfer to a completely different continent.
According to FIFA regulations, players can only play official games at two clubs in one season, and Hwang Ui-jo was unable to play if he moved to a European team because he played at Bordeaux and Olympiacos in the 2022-2023 season.
However, there was an exception that if he moved to a team with a different league schedule, he could also play at the third club, so Hwang Ui-jo sought to move to a league operated by the spring and autumn system, not Europe, and eventually decided to move to the K League.
Hwang Ui-jo signed a six-month short-term loan contract with FC Seoul in February last year and scored four goals and two assists in 18 games in the K League 1 2023 season, aiming to turn his career around. Returning to Nottingham in the summer, he scored his unofficial debut goal in a pre-season game against Notts County, looking like he would secure his position this time.
However, Hwang Ui-jo was excluded from the list for the opening match of the 2023-2024 Premier League against Arsenal, and the subsequent second and third rounds against Sheffield United and Manchester United had to be watched from the bench.
Hwang eventually chose to go on loan again. On Sept. 2 last year, on the last day of the transfer window, Norwich City announced on its official website, "We have hired Hwang on loan from Nottingham Forest for the rest of the season. He will wear the number 31."
Hwang Ui-jo played as the front-line striker in Norwich, being trusted by coach David Wagner. He made 17 appearances in the Championship League, scoring three goals and one assist. After scoring goals in two consecutive rounds in the 17th and 18th rounds, he returned on loan to Nottingham in January after taking a month off with a hamstring injury.
Nottingham already has a lot of front-line strikers such as Chris Wood 32, Divock Origi 28, Taiwo Awoniyi 26 and Hodrigu Hibeiro 18. There was no place for Hwang Ui-jo as Wood and Awoniyi played with eight and five goals, respectively.
Hwang Ui-jo, who challenged for the Premier League, was also excluded from Nunu Santo's plans and found a fourth loan team and was eventually forced to leave for Turkiye again. His career, which has reached a considerable age of 31, was twisted at the end.
Alanyaspor, led by Coach Fite Teke, is ranking 14th 6 wins, 9 draws, 9 losses and 27 points in the Turkiye Shipper League for the 2023-2024 season. He is just one game behind Fatih Karagumlik 6 wins, 6 draws, 12 losses and 24 points, who is ranking 17th in the relegation zone.
Alanyaspor, whose team score this season is 26 goals, is lower than Karagumriq 28 goals, plans to recruit Hwang Ui-jo to strengthen his scoring ability.
Alagenspor has had no wins in three recent games two draws and one loss. As of a month in 2024, the team is off to a shaky start to the second half with only one win in the official match. His only victory this year was his 2-1 home victory in the league's 21st round against Rijerspor on April 20.
Above all, the strikers show poor performance. Among the strikers, left winger Oguiz Eidine 22 and right winger Carlos Edouardu 27 have scored three goals the most. The most goals in the team are five scored by Joao Novice 31, a midfielder. Expectations are high on whether Hwang will be able to meet his team's scoring capacity.