The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Park Chu-young to join Spanish club: reports

By Korea Herald

Published : Aug. 31, 2012 - 19:57

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Park Chu-young (Yonhap News) Park Chu-young (Yonhap News)
South Korean football forward Park Chu-young is close to joining a top-division Spanish club, Spanish media reported Friday.

Newspaper Faro de Vigo said Park is expected to join Celta Vigo on a loan from his current club, Arsenal in the English Premier League. The paper said Park was already in Vigo, the team‘s hometown, for a medical and could become the team’s latest member as early as early Saturday, Korean time. The transfer windows for English and Spanish clubs close midnight Friday, which is 8 a.m. Saturday, Korean time.

The paper reported Celta Vigo “neither confirms nor denies” its impending acquisition of the 27-year-old. It added club officials have adopted a “policy of extreme caution” until all the paperwork is done.

Park made his professional debut with FC Seoul in South Korea‘s K-League in 2005, and won the Rookie of the Year honors by netting 18 goals in 30 games.

He moved to AS Monaco in the top French league and played three seasons there, before Monaco was relegated to the second division in 2011.

Park appeared in only six games for Arsenal, only one of them in Premier League play, and had one goal. At first hailed by manager Arsene Wenger as “a valuable addition,” Park quickly fell out of favor with the London-based team and even spent time with Arsenal’s reserve squad. Reports out of London said Arsenal told Park this summer to find a new club or face the prospect of spending more time on the bench.

Park was a member of the bronze medal-winning South Korean team at the London Olympics. Earlier this year, he found himself at the center of a military draft dodging controversy, after it was belatedly revealed that he had obtained a 10-year residency visa in Monaco.

All healthy South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 35 must served in the armed forces for about two years. By winning an Olympic football medal, however, Park has now been granted exemption from the mandatory service.

Park, a former captain for the South Korean national team, has scored 23 goals in 58 international matches.

Celta Vigo is playing in the Primera Division, commonly known as La Liga. The team was relegated to the second division in 2007 and earned a promotion for this year. The team lost its first two games of this season. 

(Yonhap News)