New Foreign K Leaguers in 2024
Every off-season brings new foreign talents to the league but will they succeed or flop?
The transfer window in the K League always brings about much change, with one of the most common changes is the high turnover of foreign players. This 2024 Winter Transfer Window has been no different with Gwangju, Suwon FC and Jeonbuk all changing the vast majority of their foreign talents. The reasons for the change are numerous; Jeonbuk’s foreign contingent underperformed while Gwangju’s overperformed and got lucrative moves to higher paying leagues.
So far as of the end of January of the new arrivals, that is players transfering from outside of K League 1, we’ve seen the usual influx of Brazilians (9), 1 soon to be 2 Australians, 2 from neighbours Japan, 1 returning Croatian, 1 Costa Rican and the league’s first Indonesian. The success rate of the new arrivals to the league is sure to be mixed; for every Cesinha, probably the undisputed best ever foreign signing, there is at least 2 Luan Ferreira’s, made a total of 3 appearances for Suwon FC in 2023 before being released mid-season. Let’s have a look at some of these new arrivals and predict how they will fare.
The Boring Part
The K League has and continues to change the foreign player rules often. The current 5+1 rule is going into its second and now we know final year. This rule gives extra privilege to players within the AFC confederation, which is typically an Australian or Japanese player; the remaining 5 can be from any country. Next year, 2025, the rule will be 6 foreign players regardless of confederation. The catch being that no more than 4 can play at the same time, which in 2024 remains 3+1 giving the AFC player additional status. So in 2023 we often saw Palocevic subbed off for Iljutcenko at FC Seoul, and that will remain the case for the forthcoming 2024 season.
ITALO MOREIRA BARCELOS (CM)
Jeju United
A late bloomer, Italo’s list of professional clubs dates back to..well January 2023. Less than a year later he finds himself playing abroad from his native Brazil, tasked with improving a Jeju United that flirted with relegation back to the K2 after 2 years of relative stability in the top tier. Under new coach, the experienced Kim Hak-bum, Italo will most likely form a double pivot with Choi Young-jun. Choi missed a large chunk of the season after a knee injury on the opening day of the 2023 season and was key in the final yards to ensure their K1 status for 2024. Alongside the experienced Choi, Italo is sure to be guided through games and helped to settle in, which is something often not afforded to foreign players, who are often on the higher wages and burdened with higher expectations. Italo’s height and long strides should provide more energy to a Jeju side that looked sluggish for most of the the 2023 season. His passing range looks good and work rate to go box to box will be a welcome addition as well to the team.
The huge success of Pohang’s and Italo’s fellow countryman, Oberdan playing in the defensive midfielder, volante, role has seen a few sides seek to get their own version. Suwon FC and Ulsan HD have both also brought in Brazilian DMs. Italo’s attributes look well suited to the K League but a lack of experience and adapting to a new league always brings it’s own challenges.
Prediciton: Success - a 4-2-3-1 system for Jeju United should bring out the best of their other positions with Reis the key player, while additions of Kim Tae-hwan also give them most energy going forward. Yuri, in his second season, will look to improve on his still impressive 10 goals last season. Brazilian synergy will be key.
JOÃO MAGNO (CF)
Gwangju FC
It was clear from Gwangju’s stellar 2023 season, finishing in the Asian Champions League for the first time, that despite their success and dominance, what was missing was a striker. Top scorer in that side was Albanian winger Asani, who has now left the side, with 7. Heo Yool, who made 33 appearances as the number 9, only got 3 goals all season. Gwangju along with Jeju had the second lowest conversions in the 6-yard box with only 5, so there’s room for improvement here. Magno hasn’t been prolific throughout his career, bar his 2022/23 season in the Luxembourg League where he grabbed 17 goals and 14 assists for F91 Dudelange in the league and an additional 5 in the cup. Aside from his time in Luxembourg he has found things tougher and only got 3 goals in 19 games on his return to Brazil last season in Série A.
His 195cm frame should offer Gwangju an additional threat to their neat possession-based footballing approach. Despite his large build, Magno shows good movement and post play with those 14 assists for F91 Dudelange a statistic that was no doubt appealing to Gwangju under the leadership of Lee Jung-hyo, who has just renewed his contract despite interest from clubs with bigger budgets. Magno displays his Brazilian flair with a range of flicks making up a large chunk of his highlights, it remains to be seen what the disciplinarian Lee will make of that.
Prediction: Success - Ability in the air and finishing are 2 characteristics that should bring opportunities for Magno to become successful at a team who can exploit space left by opponents. Magno could provide that additional option when plan A doesn’t work, by occupying defenders he will also create space for others. Double figures would be my expectations - Gwangju failed to convert a penalty in the 2023 season so law of averages would suggest they get a few this season with left-footed Magno a suitable taker.
Kelvin Giacobe Alves dos Santos (KELVIN)
Ulsan HD
Kelvin arrives at Ulsan as the 41st Brazilian to represent the East Coast side, and he looks like your typical Brazilian. Strong dribbler, good crosser and an excellent set piece taker. From his 2023 stats in the Série B in his homeland, he also showed reasons that can make him a good fit for Ulsan. The 26-year-old is the direct replacement for Georgian international Valeri "Vako" Qazaishvili and has similar dribbling success rates with Kelvin’s average of 2.59 to Vako’s 2.25 per 90. The right footed Brazilian can play on either wing with the expectation that he starts on Ulsan’s left in the void left by Vako and carrying out a similar function, while Ulsan’s right side is left to Ludwigson or Eom Won-sang who bring different characteristics. Compared to Vako what Kelvin lacks is goals. In each of the Georgian’s 3 season with Ulsan he broke the 10 goal margin each time while Kelvin has failed to do that throughout his career.
Prediction: Slow burner - Ulsan’s array of options and ‘win-it-now’ approach, over fostering youth development, from head coach Hong Myung-bo will create pressure on Kelvin and we are still yet to see consistent performances from last year’s foreign players. Ludwigson has shown signs of his ability and contributed greatly on the defensive side of the ball, while Bojanic remains on the fringes of the squad, not really having been given a fair crack at the whip. I can envisage a similar situation for Kelvin who may need time to adapt to the league, but time isn’t something easily afforded at Ulsan.
Other New Foreign Players in 2024
Suwon Fc - Josepablo Monreal CF (COSTA RICA) and Matheus Trindade DM (BRAZIL)
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - Marcus Vinicius LW (BRAZIL)
Ulsan HD - Matheus Sales CM (BRAZIL)
Gangwon FC - Yuta Kamiya CM (JAPAN)
Daegu FC - Kyohei Yoshino CB (JAPAN)
Pohang Steelers - Jonathan Aspropotamitis CB (AUSTRALIA) and Jorge Teixeira CF (BRAZIL)
Gwangju FC - Gabriel Tigrão CF (BRAZIL) and Alexandar Popovic CB (AUSTRAILA)
Incheon United - Matej Jonjic CB (CROATIA)
Jeju United - Tales José da Silva LW (BRAZIL)
Daejeon Hana Citizen - Vahan Bichakhchyan RW (ARMENIA) - rumoured
FC Seoul - Mohammad Hossein Kanaanizadegan CB (IRAN) - rumoured