Ulsan HD found 'Kim Young-kwon's successor'
An official familiar with the K-League transfer market said, `Ulsan has agreed to recruit center back Lee Jae-ik (26) of Jeonbuk Hyundai. There will be an announcement soon." Lee Jae-ik, who is currently undergoing basic military training, will conduct a medical test immediately after being discharged from the hospital on the 16th. Lee Jae-ik will join Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where Ulsan is training.
Ulsan's key task this winter was generational change. He won three consecutive games by winning the 2024 season and built a dynasty, but the aging of the main pillars was a concern. Ulsan, which will play in the Club World Cup, brought a large number of young resources this winter and started to change.
The core of the flag was the defense. Last season's main four-backs all exceeded 30 lines. Ulsan took the plunge. I changed the sides first. It recruited Park Min-seo (25) from E-Land in Seoul and Yoon Jong-kyu (27) from FC Seoul. It filled the gap between Lee Myung-jae (32) and Yoon Il-rok (33), who did not renew their contracts.
He also made changes to the central defense. Im Jong-eun moved to Daejeon Hana Citizen, and Kim Ki-hee put her trip to the U.S. in sight, making recruitment mandatory. First, he confirmed the recruitment of Bucheon FC's young defender Seo Myung-kwan (23), who was a key center back for the under-23 national team. He completed medical tests and autographs on the 13th. The age of center backs was significantly lowered by recruiting signatories, which Daejeon and Jeonbuk watched.
If the signing officer was a recruit in preparation for Kim Ki-hee's departure, Lee Jae-ik has been a defender that Ulsan has worked on for a long time. Ulsan, looking for a high-quality left-footed center back, predicted Lee Jae-ik. He paid the transfer fee and had Lee Jae-ik on the market just in time.
Lee Jae-ik is a self-proclaimed heir to Kim Young-kwon. Lee Jae-ik was evaluated as a defender to succeed Kim Young-kwon, who has been a key defender of the A national team for more than a decade. He looks exactly like Kim Young-kwon, from his build-up ability with accurate kicks to his excellent defense sense. Lee Jae-ik, who served as a representative by age, drew attention with a fantastic performance at the 2019 U-20 World Cup, where he finished second. He also joined the A national team with praise from head coach Paulo Bento.
Lee Jae-ik, who made his professional debut through Gangwon FC in 2011, has continued his career abroad, including Qatar Allaiyan and Belgium's Royal Antwerp. After that, he went to Seoul E-Land and wore a Jeonbuk uniform last season. Although they did not perform as expected, they always received high scores for their potential. As the military service problem was solved through the gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, it was evaluated that it would be able to play a key role in the A national team's defense if only the defense was raised. Head coach Kim Pan-gon is also highly regarded by Lee Jae-ik's ability.
As Lee Jae-ik is with a clear tutor named Kim Young-kwon, he is dreaming of taking a leap forward from this season. For now, Kim Young-kwon's backup is likely, but Ulsan is expected to be given a lot of opportunities as it will play the league, the Club World Cup, the Asian Champions League, and the Korea Cup this season. After completing the defense maintenance, Ulsan plans to focus on the offense by recruiting foreign strikers for the rest of the winter transfer market.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
