유지호
| 2023-02-08 10:44:22
football-clubs
Well-traveled veteran encourages young footballers to pounce on overseas opportunities
SEOGWIPO, South Korea, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- Speaking from experience as a well-traveled veteran, Suwon FC left back Park Joo-ho believes young players should take any opportunity to go play overseas in a heartbeat.
"Players all want to challenge themselves in Europe, and my advice is that they should absolutely go play whenever they have a chance to do so and not worry so much about money," Park said at a press conference Tuesday evening, on the sidelines of Suwon FC's offseason training camp in Seogwipo, Jeju Island.
"When you experience international football, you will develop an entirely new perspective on your career," said Park, who played in Japan, Switzerland and Germany for nearly a decade before arriving in the K League 1 in late 2017 with Ulsan Hyundai FC. Park, 36, joined Suwon FC in January 2021.
"When I was 20, players didn't dare dream of going to Europe because we didn't really have anyone we could look up to there," Park continued. "But today, even elementary school players can harbor that dream because they watch Korean players in Europe."
During this offseason, Suwon Samsung Bluewings forward Oh Hyeon-gyu signed with the Scottish champions Celtic. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors forward Cho Gue-sung, the reigning K League 1 scoring champion, drew interest from multiple European clubs following his breakout performance at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.Cho decided to stay put in South Korea for now and will likely try to leave during the summer transfer window, when European clubs will be gearing up for new seasons.
Oh chose to jump right into the Scottish season, which left him little time to find his bearings in his new surroundings, whereas Cho, should he be able to land a deal in the summer, will have more runway to get acclimated to the new country before the start of his season.
"It does help players to make a move in the summer, because it's never easy to make quick adjustments before spending enough time with your new teammates," Park said. "If you move in the middle of a season, you have to look for a place to live, and there are other distractions. You have to spend a couple of months living out of a suitcase in a hotel."
Park, who spent a couple of seasons in Switzerland before moving up the European football totem pole to the Bundesliga, said biding time in less competitive environments, just as he did, can be a reasonable course of action.
"Smaller leagues are nothing to sneeze at," Park said. "We see a lot of English football here, and people think it'd be nice to see our players on those big clubs. But you also have to factor in players' competitiveness and their ability to adjust."
Oh and Cho are both big-bodied forwards with impressive physical tools. With advances in nutrition and detailed training regimen, top-end South Korean players today can compete at a high level physically. The key, Park said, is between the ears.
"You need to be mentally strong, so that you can stay on your feet through adversity," Park said. "In Europe, life can be tedious and lonely. On top of that, you have to survive internal competition. You must not be intimidated."
Park also called on K League clubs to be more understanding of their players when they receive offers from overseas. K League teams, predictably, tend to be reluctant to let their top guys leave.
"European teams may not come back with the same offer next year," Park said. "K League clubs should realize that those players can come back a much better player."
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