By Kang Seung-woo
After spending most of his Arsenal spell on the bench, Korea international Park Chu-young has been demoted to the reserves, an English Newspaper reported Tuesday.
Manager Arsene Wenger relegated unproductive forwards Marouane Chamakh, Andrey Arshavin and Park to the club’s reserve ranks this week, according to Metro.
The 26-year-old joined the Gunners ahead of this season but has only made one Premier League appearance, in which he came on for about 10 minutes as a substitute. He has also played three times in the Carling Cup scoring once and took the pitch one time in the Champions League,.
The paper also said that Park and Chamakh played well as a striking partnership in the League Cup earlier the season, but are slated to start against Norwich City reserves on Tuesday evening, seen as a possible stepping stone for them to make the first team squad for Sunday’s North London derby with Tottenham Hotspur.
It will be the third time for Park to feature in a reserve match after playing against Aston Villa and Sunderland in January.
The decision is seen as Wenger’s last throw of the dice in a bid to transform Chamakh, Arshavin and Park with the hope that they will see the drop down as a challenge, ahead of a vital run of games for the club, the paper said.
Arsenal are currently fourth in the Premier League standings, which is the lowest slot for next year’s Champions League, and they are trying to keep hopes of qualifying for the competition alive.
Park’s relegation is also likely to hurt national team manager Choi Kang-hee’s strategy one week ahead of a crucial World Cup qualifier against Kuwait.
Although Park has spent most of his Arsenal spell on the bench, Choi earlier picked him this month for his first squad since his appointment in December, believing that Park could be a threat to Kuwait as a supporting striker for Lee Dong-gook. But Park’s demotion is not a good news for the Taeguk Warriors, whose road to Brazil faces a rough ride. The Korean team needs at least a tie with the Middle East nation to reach the final qualifying round.
Choi is expected to look at alternatives to Park in an ongoing training session in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province and a tune-up match with Uzbekistan on Monday thanks to solid performances by local league players, with former West Bromwich Albion midfielder Kim Do-heon and Sangju Sangmu midfielder Kim Jae-sung emerging as the top candidates.