‘KING’ Lee Kang-in (22-PSG) will compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games this September.
On Thursday, multiple sources familiar with the situation of the U24 national team led by coach Hwang Sun-hong said, “Lee Kang-in has been named to the final roster for the Hangzhou Asian Games. When Lee signed a personal agreement with his new club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), he included a clause in his contract to participate in the Asian Games. Otherwise, there is a possibility that PSG would not have released him,” he said.
“It will take about a month between the Asian Games call-up and the tournament. Especially the call-up training, which will overlap with the A-Match in September, is not a big problem. The tournament itself is two weeks.”
The Korean Football Association on Monday announced that it will release the final roster for the Hangzhou Asian Games, which has been postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The federation had already handed over the list to the Korean Sports Ministry earlier this month, and the KMA is expected to hand over the final list to the Asian Olympic Committee (OCA), which is organizing the Asian Games, on May 15.
The big question mark is whether Lee Kang-in will be included. Lee recently left Mallorca, Spain, to join PSG. However, unlike the World Cup and Confederations Cup, the Asian Games and Olympics are not mandatory FIFA tournaments, meaning that PSG could opt out of the call-up. Son Heung-min (31-Tottenham) had a precedent. At the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Heung-min didn’t play because his club, Bayer Leverkusen, refused to send him. So four years later, while still with Tottenham, he was allowed to play at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, where he won a gold medal and was exempted from military service. However, Lee did not step on Son’s ex-wife’s toes. When he initially signed with PSG, he reportedly included “participation in the Asian Games” as a clause in his contract.카지노사이트
PSG also lacked the incentive to prevent Lee’s departure. “PSG may have been hoping that Lee would win a gold medal at the Asian Games and be exempted from military service, which would be beneficial in the long run,” multiple sources explained. If Lee gets his exemption and dominates the French scene, his price tag will skyrocket. PSG paid Mallorca a transfer fee of €22 million (approximately $312 million) for Lee.
If Lee fails to win a gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, he will still be eligible for the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2026 Aichi/Nagoya Asian Games as a wild card. Lee has a five-year contract with PSG through 2028, so he has three chances to use his military exemption within that time frame.
Lee is a “world-class” player who can play on the left flank or as an attacking midfielder for Hwang Seon-Hong. In fact, his performance at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Asian Cup in March was not without its disappointments, but his improvement has been remarkable. They tore up the Spanish La Liga last season. He was a ‘one-man army’ for underdog Mallorca.