Britain is no longer likely to think that Jesse Lingard headed to Korea for money. Lingard cut his salary by more than 80%.
Lingard is in the K-League. FC Seoul announced in a press release on Tuesday that it has recruited Lingard, a former member of the English national team who is the "biggest name in the history of the K-League."
Lingard said through the club, "I want to be at the center of the K-League stage as soon as possible by showing a good performance with a commitment to the team and a mature attitude with respect for Korean soccer." "I will try to be of great help to the aggressive tactics of coach Kim Ki-dong, who was appointed this season, and to be of great help to the team."
Lingard is a player with a reputation that can be called the best big name recruitment in K-League history. Lingard is a former youth player of Manchester United, a prestigious English club where Park Ji-sung, Jeonbuk Hyundai Technical Director, played, and is a star player who has played more than 200 games only for Manchester United since his debut with Manchester United.
Lingard was replaced by a main player at Manchester United at the beginning of his career, but was later pushed as a candidate due to his poor performance. Lingard, who had been criticized for a while for his poor performance, faced a turning point in his loan at West Ham United.
Lingard, who was loaned to West Ham in the winter transfer market at the time, showed tremendous performance in the second half of the season and led West Ham's attack. Lingard's record at West Ham in the 2020-21 season was nine goals and four assists in 19 games, and it is safe to say that this half of the season was Lingard's career high.
However, after returning to Manchester United, he was reduced to a bench resource again. There were few games where he started, and most of them were substituted or failed to play. Lingard, who wanted time to play, did not sign a contract with Manchester United even before his contract expired, and eventually moved to Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham promised Lingard the highest salary in the club to recruit him. However, Lingard was no longer a player who could demonstrate that level of skill. Lingard was criticized for failing to get out of the game for no other reason than purely performing at Nottingham, but rather received an excessively high weekly salary compared to other players, destroying the team's weekly wage system.
Lingard, who became a free agent after his contract with Nottingham expired, has found a new team. Prestigious clubs such as Barcelona but Everton of the Premier League have also been linked with Lingard. Lionel Messi's team, Inter Miami of the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS), and Al Etipark of the Saudi Arabian League under Steven Gerrard were also mentioned, but Lingard could not find a club for a while.
Then the connected team was FC Seoul. The news from the U.K. was reported first. On the 2nd, multiple influential media outlets such as Sky Sports, BBC, and The Athletic in the U.S., Ben Jacobs of CBS Sports in the U.S., and Fabrizio Romano, an expert on the European soccer transfer market, reported that Lingard is heading to FC Seoul.
The news that Lingard, who also played for England, is suddenly heading to Asia at the age of his early 30s has become a hot topic in the UK. Some pointed out that Lingard may be heading to Korea for money, just as some players choose to transfer to Saudi Arabia with high salaries and good conditions.
It was not just a rumor. British broadcasting panelists criticized Lingard's choice, saying he was no different from the players who accepted the Saudi Arabian League's offer last summer to make money.
Neither soccer professionals nor fans in the U.K. were aware of the K-League. In reality, the K-League is a league that cannot pay a large amount of money to a single player. Even a self-sustaining club with the support of its parent company can hardly maintain a certain player, especially one who plays in the PL and makes "billion-dollar" salary every week.
It is different from the Saudi Arabian League. The Saudi Arabian League was selected as part of a project called "Saudi Arabia Vision 2030" and a huge amount of money can be used to recruit players or manage clubs with state support. This is why Saudi Arabian clubs easily won the competition with European clubs last summer.
Lingard had no choice but to cut his salary to join FC Seoul. Britain's "Daily Mail" reported that Lingard will receive 175,000 pounds (about 294 million won) a week in Seoul and 910,000 pounds (1.53 billion won) a week. This is considerably lower than the 100,000 pounds (about 168 million won) Lingard received when he re-signed with Manchester United in 2017.
In fact, Lingard has reduced his weekly and annual salary by more than 80 percent. Now, the Daily Mail may have found out that Lingard did not come to Korea to make money.
In Korea, there were doubts that Lingard came to Korea for his business. Lingard is currently running an e-sports business and an apparel business, and last year, he reportedly signed a content cooperation partnership with a domestic e-sports team.
However, Lingard said, "I came to the K-League to play soccer." Lingard, who had trained alone for about six months as an FA after terminating his contract with Nottingham, has seen his sense of play in the real world deteriorate significantly. As Lingard is still at an age when he is enjoying his prime as a soccer player, he seems to have greed for soccer.
Lingard himself expressed his aspiration for soccer at the news conference. "I want to go back to the stadium and play soccer as soon as possible. It is important to go back to the stadium and play soccer," Lingard said. "I think the K-League can develop further and advance to a global stage. In the process, I will be of great help to the K-League." Lingard said he would help the K-League develop.
Lingard will try to make himself fit as soon as possible. According to FC Seoul, Lingard will reportedly head to Kagoshima, Japan, where his teammates are currently participating in winter training. 토토사이트 추천
Meanwhile, FC Seoul is also aiming for a certain effect through the recruitment of Lingard. "On the 20th anniversary of returning to Seoul, the club is set to make the transfer with the vision to further solidify its status as a leading K-League team and lay the foundation for FC Seoul and the K-League to make a leap forward in line with global standards," FC Seoul said. "More than anything, the recruitment is also the result of the club's commitment to repay the generosity of fans who helped FC Seoul stand as the most popular team in Korea by setting a new record of 22,633 spectators in a single season of professional sports in the 2023 season."