Third Time Lucky in Landing a Korean Player for FC Midtjylland.
The story behind the transfer of Cho Gue-sung and later Lee Han-beom to the Danish club.
Cho Gue-sung has settled in very well in Danish football at FC Midtjylland, scoring 5 times in 10 appearances in the league along with 2 assists. His league form has also cemented his place at the starting number 9 for South Korea following on from his World Cup performances. Cho has started the last four friendlies under new South Korea head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, including the most recent October friendlies in the heavy 4-0 and 6-0 home wins against Tunisia and Vietnam respectively.
Cho was actually the third South Korean that the club had targeted in recent times, but previously without success. That could’ve been a blessing in disguise as the club are very happy with how Cho has adapted and excited about the potential of his compatriot Lee Han-beom who quickly became the fourth such target.
I spoke with Kristian Kjær the Head of Recruitment at FC Midtjylland about Cho and also the latest addition to the squad, Lee Han-beom, who joined late in the window.
You can read the full Q & A below with the key takeaways being
On the pitch he's (Cho Gue-sung’s) just a blue-collar worker with quality you know, he's a team player.
I've tried to sign two South Korean players before without success, they chose other clubs.
I was actually pretty sure this would be a really good match after after meeting him three times.
Cho was simply impossible to sign (after the World Cup) because he was too expensive and then we kept the dialogue open with Park Ji-Sung and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
I honestly believe that he (Lee Han-beom) will surprise people here in Denmark because they haven't realised how good of a player he is.
We didn’t need to convince Cho Gue-sung because he was actually keen on the project when we told him but when we spoke to Lee Han-beom I could just make a reference to Cho.
Q: You must be happy with how he’s started.
Yeah for sure, I would say that both on and outside the pitch he has settled in really really well here, he is an extrovert and curious type of person, who wants to you get to know speak to, and engage with people. And on the pitch he's just a blue-collar worker with quality you know, he's a team player. In our part of Denmark, but also in our club with our style of play if you have that attitude you win the hearts of the fans instantly. We like to play with intensity in our games with the high pressing line - on all those parameters he fits the profile extremely well and then combine that with his personality. So it’s a really good match.
Q: Has coming from mid-season in the K League helped him settle as well?
Yeah he was in shape you can say and actually made quite a few goals just before so he was also in a good run and that of course helped. When you look at how professional he is, I believe that if we had signed him in the Korean preseason, he would also have been in quite good shape, that would be my best guess.
Q: Were there any worries about bringing in a Korean player and how they might settle in?
Not worried, you can say that it was a market we didn't have much experience in; I have been in Midtjylland for 6 or 7 years and I've tried to sign two South Korean players before without success, they chose other clubs. And Denmark you know for a South Korean player it's not at the top of your mind, but I would say that we weren’t worried and I would also say after having met Cho, I can't even remember exactly I think we met him three times in total, for me it's more about the person you know - I don't believe that all people from Danish people are similar and it would be weird if all South Korean were similar but of course they have a kind of you know whatever you would like to call it and as we share some of the same values - they have a good work rate, he is an outgoing guy extraverted guy so yeah I was actually pretty sure this would be a really good match after after meeting him three times.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about when the Cho started to be on the club’s radar?
Cho was on our radar in the scouting department even before the World Cup and then the World Cup was also helpful for him at least but for us it wasn’t as helpful when it comes to the market value. In January we were also looking for a striker, we were not successful and Cho was simply impossible to sign because he was too expensive and then we kept the dialogue open with Park Ji-Sung and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors - I have spoken to Park like 15 times maybe I don't know, not only about Cho but also we have met in London are in November and you know keeping in contact with people and the football world is small so it's always good to be in contact with the other clubs and then early on we made our interest quite specific and we were looking to find a solution and it looked like we were able to find a solution in the late spring when we spoke to Cho for the first time because we didn't want to speak to him if there was no chance this would be successful and then things accelerated from there.
Q: There remains some rumours about his long-term future - how long do you think you’ll be able to keep him at the club?
I would say that it's not unusual for us that there will be rumours about all our players from the big five, but for us it's only positive and you know we are not thinking about selling Cho - neither next transfer window or even the one after. We hope that we will be successful together and then in the world of football you never know but the player and we have just started. I see him in the daily routine and he seems extremely happy - you can actually have a bit of a calm life compared to maybe how it was in Korea where he is a superstar and here we have South Koreans attending all of our games and even the training sometimes. But compared to his life in South Korea he actually has privacy and I believe that Cho likes to have privacy so I hope he’s dreaming about something better and bigger than Midtjyalland and maybe that will be achievable or hopefully we can achieve Champions League together that is our ambition.
Q: Lee Han-beom’s transfer came as a bit out of the blue - could you tell me a little bit about that?
Yeah for sure, we were in the market for you know you can say that we follow all the positions of course, we are prepared in all positions and we have actually followed Lee Han-beom for quite a while because we really liked him and could see he has a high potential. But we were not in the market for a centre back because we had two that did actually quite well but we could also see later in the window that they would not get enough playing time and then we needed to find some new clubs for them and at the same time we also wanted to bring in someone with a high potential, with some experience then we believed that if had those four centrebacks then we have a good group of players and then we were allowed to start negotiating with FC Seoul and with the player. So, it came out of the blue from the outside but on the inside it was well prepared. Also, the fact that he’s not as famous as Cho Gue-sung so it's also easier to keep things private when it comes to him. I honestly believe that he will surprise people here in Denmark because they haven't realised how good of a player he is. Compared to Cho he will need to learn English to help him integrate so it will take him a bit longer. I am confident they will be good additions to our squad. We wanted to sign him before the Asian Games because for me it’s more about when you see a good player and you have room to sign them then you do, and we knew all about him going to Asian games but if we had waited then who knows what would’ve happened then maybe we would be a small fish in the group of clubs so I would rather secure the player when I have the possibility to do it.
Why has the club moved for K League players? Does it represent good value and do you think it’s a market you will return to?
Yeah, I am sure we will you know. We have a bit of a worldwide approach you can say but for us the South Korean market is interesting because a lot of the players are well coached from an early age so they have good football backgrounds and as we spoke about earlier there's also some similarities in culture we’re not too far from each other. I would not say undervalued, but at the same time you can see South America going crazy, Eastern Europe going crazy on young players so maybe it's a bit ‘undervalued’ but I wouldn’t use that phrase. I would rather say that you can actually build a bridge and they would say moving to Midtjylland, because they have ambitions, it’s a step up for them and it's a good stepping stone. Lee Han-beom was very focused on that being a major point and it being a very good stepping stone for him in Europe because this is a safe country, it's a small country and it's a competitive league. There’s a short way into the European group stages if you're seeing it from the outside and so definitely now we have the benchmark in cases. We didn’t need to convince Cho Gue-sung because he was actually keen on the project when we told him but when we spoke to Lee Han-beom I could just make a reference to Cho. Before him some players thought we were in Germany, but now we have that benchmark.