Park Ji-soo enters Portugal as a stepping stone to Bento.
It is interesting that players who missed the Qatar World Cup ground have advanced to Europe one after another. Following Oh Hyun-kyu (22, Celtic), Park Ji-soo (29) will take the European stage.
Portugal’s Freemay La Liga Portimonence club announced on its website on the 25th that it has recruited five players, including Korean national defender Park Ji-soo (29). The club did not specify the contract period, but it seems to have signed a one-and-a-half-year contract until next summer due to local media reports. Portimonence is a team that Lee Seung-woo is known to some extent in Korea as he joined for a while in 2021.
It is not uncommon for Korean center backs to advance to major European leagues. Kim Min-jae (27) is currently playing in Naples, Italy, after taking his first step in Europe through the Turkish League in the summer of 2021.
Former South Korean national soccer team coach Paulo Bento’s “leg” is drawing attention to Park Ji-soo’s advance to Europe. Park Ji-soo said at a press conference, “I was familiar with Bento because he was a Portuguese league player and his nationality was Portugal,” adding, “I didn’t hear anything personally, but (Bento) talked to Portimonence on the phone.” Thank you very much.
Park Ji-soo steadily boarded Bento’s team ahead of the Qatar World Cup and had a bright prospect of participating in the World Cup, but he injured his ankle in a warm-up match against Iceland just before the final list was announced and failed to go to Qatar. However, former head coach Bento, who paid attention to Park Ji-soo, fired support to advance to Europe and became a “phone blessing.”
Park Ji-soo, who made his professional debut through Incheon United in the K League 1, made his first overseas advance by wearing a Guangzhou Evergrande (currently Guangzhou FC) uniform in China in 2019 through Gyeongnam FC. He then returned to the K League to serve in the military and played for Suwon FC and Gimcheon Sangmu on loan, and recently became a free agent (FA). 안전한놀이터
The Portimonens are ranked 12th out of 18 teams in the league. Two center backs, including Park Ji-soo, were recruited this time to reinforce the unstable defense by allowing 10 runs in five official games. As for the big index, there are Asian players such as striker Kim Yong-hak and Japanese goalkeeper Kosuke Nakamura, who currently play for the under-20 national team, which is expected to help adapt.