Time to say adios

We have already seen best of Park Chu-young

By Jung Min-ho

Celta Vigo might survive relegation from La Liga in Spain. As for Park Chu-young, who could be the club’s worst investment in years, his career in the league looks all but over and his chances of remaining in top-flight European football are very slim.

The 28-year-old forward has achieved only four goals and one assist in 26 games this season, not the sort of record Celta Vigo expected from its most expensive player. Park didn’t even manage to get off the bench in the past five games. In the club’s most recent game against Real Valladolid Monday, manager Abel Resino did not even want him on the bench. It’s anyone’s guess where Park watched his team defeat Real Valladolid 2-0, if he did watch at all.

The win pulled Celta Vigo to a tie with Real Zaragoza in the league with standings of 34 points apiece and shoved 33-point Mallorca to the bottom of the table. If the team wins against Espanyol and Deportivo, currently one point above the relegation zone, loses to Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo gets to stay with the big boys. These matches, to take place Saturday, will be their final games of the season. Regardless of what happens in the following weeks, Park doesn’t seem to be part of Celta Vigo’s future, not even the immediate one.

``Park is currently suffering from the Spanish media and Celta Vigo fans,” Dom Aldworth, a host at the Talk Radio Europe sports in southern Spain, told The Korea Times. ``Look, he is on loan from Arsenal and earning substantially more than any other of the Celta Vigo players. Adding to that, Celta Vigo have to pay approximately 600,000 euros ($776,337) of his wages as well, so as you can imagine, the club and fans were expecting a much bigger contribution from him.’’

When Park moved from the English Premier League to Celta Vigo after playing an integral part in Korea’s bronze medal run in the London Olympics last year, he was hailed as an “extraordinary talent.” But he rewarded the expectations with anonymous performances and the talks about a permanent transfer died soon.

Local daily Atlantico Diario described Celta Vigo’s acquisition of Park an “abject failure,” saying Celta Vigo sporting director Miguel Torrecilla’s decision to sign him could risk his job.

Vigo’s local newspaper, Faro de Vigo, also said 1000 euros per minute is the cost for using him, noting he only played a total of 572 minutes since he came.

“The end result of this bad experience is that Celta Vigo, like many clubs in the Spanish division, are suffering financially and his wages are a big burden. If he had performed better and delivered European football to Celta Vigo, the reaction would have been different,” Aldworth said. “Unfortunately, Park hasn’t delivered it, and the finger of blame is being pointed at him if the team fails to survive.”

In addition, the way Park deals with the media has been poor as much as he performs with a ball in the pit.

Sports columnist Han Joon quoted Sentimiento Celeste’s editor-in-chief Santiago Perez who criticized Park for rejecting local media’s proper requests for interviews and conferences.

Perez said Park lacks a sense of responsibility as the club’s most anticipated and expensive player.

“Not being European and not speaking Spanish has been a real handicap for him without question and has probably made him a bit of a loner at first and then an outcast following his failure,” Aldworth said.

“With regards his relationship with his team mates and manager again any strain that may have existed is the fact that his salary was so much more than those around him, including the manager.”

Worse, Arsenal did not seem to want the striker, who only had one goal in six games last season, back, either.

A number of English media have reported that Arsenal are keen to sell Park along with Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh.

Perhaps the last chance for Park to bounce back is to play for the World Cup national team. But manager Choi Kang-hee did not include him for qualifiers, citing Park’s right-foot injury as well as his adaptation problem to the team.

It remains to be seen whether Park will get one more shot for redemption. Perhaps he will like he did many times before. But now the situation seems just too bad.