More K-Leaguers flock to Chinese Super League

Guangzhou Evergrande’s Kim Young-gwon, left, challenges for the ball with Al Ahly’s Emad Meteab during their game of the FIFA Club World Cup soccer tournament in Agadir, Morocco, on Dec. 14, 2013. / AP-Yonhap

By John Duerden

There is always plenty of attention on South Korean players in action in Europe, but these days, there are almost as many stars in China. The Chinese Super League spent more than any other in last winter’s transfer window to become the talk of the football world.

The summer’s transfer window has just opened and already there has been a major deal. Shanghai SIPG has just paid Zenit St Petersburg over $60 million for Brazilian striker Hulk. The powerful attacker has scored lots of goals everywhere he has gone _ Japan, Portugal and Russia. Now he will be trying to do the same against Jeonbuk Motors in the quarter-final of the Asian Champions League in August.

Hulk’s team-mate will be Kim Joo-young. The center-back left FC Seoul in 2014 to head to Shanghai and he has plenty of compatriots in China.

Each Chinese team is allowed to sign four foreign players _ soon to be cut to three _ and then one from Asia. Eight of the sixteen teams have a total of 10 Koreans.

Kim Joo-young was not the first defender from Korea to go to China. Kim Young-gwon has had major success with Guangzhou Evergrande and has been the most successful of the entire Korean contingent.

The team has won the last five Chinese championships. Kim came from Japan in 2012 and has picked up four medals since. He has also played his part in two Asian Champions League wins and is one of the most decorated Asian players currently active on the continent. It was expected that he would make a move to one of the European leagues but that has yet to happen. He is still a mainstay of the national team.

The level of play in China is not as high as many of the best leagues, but at Guangzhou he is coached by 2002 World Cup winning Luiz Felipe Scolari, and past coaches include Fabio Cannavaro, one of the best defenders in the history of the game, and Marcello Lippi, another World Cup winner and one of the most successful coaches ever.

He trains alongside the likes of Brazilian stars Paulinho and Ricardo Goulart as well a Colombian hotshot Jackson Martinez. The fans in Guangzhou average over 40,000 every home game and love him. China has been good for the 26 year-old but if he is going to leave for Europe, he needs to go soon.

Kim Kee-hee suddenly joined Shanghai Shenhua just before the season started, leaving Jeonbuk Motors for around $6 million. Shenhua are enjoying a fine season, as is Kim.

As the Chinese league improves, it not only becomes more lucrative for Koreans, it also harms their national team chances less. There was a time when a move from the K-League to the Super League would have meant a drop in quality. Overall, that may still be the case, but the arrival of world famous stars has made a real improvement. After years of failure in the Asian Champions League, Guangzhou has won two of the past three continental titles and in 2016, there are two Chinese teams in the last eight.

National team coach Uli Stielike is not averse to selecting players from other Asian leagues. Yoon Bitgaram had not played for the national team since 2012 but since moving to Yanbian Funde in China’s north-east, he has played his way back into Stielike’s plans. So there is hope for others in the country such as Jung Woo-young and Cho Yong-hyung.

With a number of European exports struggling for playing time, Korean fans could do worse than keeping an eye on the goings-on across the Yellow Sea. There is plenty going on.