Ki, Sung-Yueng

Personal

Fullname: Ki Sung-Yueng
aka: Dave, Ki Sung-Yong, Sung-Yueng Ki
Born: 24 January 1989
Birthplace: Gwangju, South Korea
Signed: 1 January 2010
Left: 24 August 2012 (to Swansea)
Position: Midfielder (Central)
Debut: Celtic 1-1 Falkirk, League, 16 Jan 2010
Squad No: 18
Internationals: South Korea
International Caps: 110
International Goals: 10

*Note: Ki is the family surname as it is the East Asian naming convention to put the surname first.

Biog

Highly rated midfielder Ki Sung-Yong joined the Hoops in January 2010 when he completed a reported £2.1 million move from FC Seoul.

Ki’s football education really began in Australia having been sent by his family in 2001 to John Paul College in Logan City, Queensland (where he was known as ‘Dave’). While in Australia he helped his college side to the national title before eventually being tempted back to Korea by FC Seoul in 2005.

It would be at FC Seoul that he really made his name and would quickly gain international honours at Under-20 and Under-23 levels before winning his first full cap on 7th June  2008 when he played in the World Cup qualifier against Jordan.

Ki’s career continued to progress and he was now regarded as one of Asia’s most promising football talents. This potential was underlined when Ki was named as Asian Young Footballer of The Year 2009.

Although the deal to bring Ki to Glasgow from South Korea was initially agreed in August 2009 the switch wasn’t officially ratified until 1st January 2010. A star performer with Seoul in the K-League the 20-year-old had attracted interest from various European clubs including English Premiership side Portsmouth.

It was Celtic though that won the race to bring Ki to Europe and the South Korean ace would make his Hoops debut on January 16th when he started the SPL clash against Falkirk at Parkhead.

His early appearances in the Celtic shirt displayed glimpses of talent but the Hoops support were in the main slightly under-whelmed by the contribution of a player who arrived in Glasgow hotly tipped as a star in the making.

However, any expectations that Ki would be an instant success were perhaps both unrealistic and unfair. Anyone crossing the cultural gulf – both on and off the field – between Scotland and Korea deserves time for acclimatisation. In any walk of life such a move would be a challenge so it is only natural that a 20-year-old thrust into the intensity of the Glasgow football scene would take time to find his feet.

Coupled to all this was the fact that Ki’s arrival at Parkhead coincided with a period of shambolic upheaval. The Korean landed in Scotland amidst desperate attempts by then Bhoys boss Tony Mowbray to add a plethora of new faces to his squad and perform a radical overhaul of his struggling team. It was a gamble which failed to pay off and Mowbray paid with his job.

Against this background of a disjointed and dispirited dressing room it is little wonder the youngster failed to shine. It was also little surprise that Neil Lennon – appointed interim boss after Mowbray’s sacking – mostly overlooked the undoubtedly out of sorts Korean as he attempted to restore some Celtic pride in the remainder of the season.

When the disappointing domestic campaign concluded Ki travelled to the World Cup with the South Korea squad. He enjoyed an impressive tournament and, perhaps for the first time, Celtic supporters witnessed with their own eyes that here was a footballer of no little quality.

Despite this the challenge of breaking into the Celtic starting line-up was not about to get any easier. Lennon – now the full-time Parkhead manager – had recruited international midfielders Beram Kayal, Joe Ledley and Efrain Juarez. However, one new arrival warmly welcomed by Ki was international team-mate Cha Du Ri. Cha, a former Freiburg full-back, signed for the Hoops on a free transfer and with his fellow countryman for company Ki seemed to finally settle down in Glasgow.

Starting the season on the bench the midfielder produced several impressive substitute appearances – including scoring a stunning goal in the 4-0 victory over St Mirren at Celtic Park in August. An injury to Scott Brown then presented Ki with a chance to stake a claim for a starting place and it was an opportunity he wasn’t to squander.

The Korean produced a string of stand-out performances and suddenly Ki was regarded as a must start for the Bhoys. A wonderfully composed, astute and efficient ball player, Ki became a highly effective performer. His vision coupled with a sublime passing ability could penetrate the tightest defence. Energetic and hardworking, he demonstrated a previously unheralded robustness which ensured that even in the rough and tumble of the SPL his cultured skills could flourish.

It was no surprise that Ki was named the Clydesdale Bank Young Player award for October 2010 and the player’s excellent form continued until the New Year when he and Cha departed Scotland for international duty at the Asia Cup, where he would play a key role in South Korea’s third place finish.

Ki returned from international duty to find Celtic in top form and with competition for a starting berth tougher than it ever was. However, having played an integral role in the campaign so far there was little doubt that the Korean would remain a major part of manager Neil Lennon’s plans. Ki rounded off season 2010/11 in style with the opening goal in the Celtic’s -0 Scottish Cup Final victory over Motherwell, and a man of the match performance.

Ki then kicked off season 2011/12 in the same form as he leff off with, scoring the second goal in the 2-0 victory at Hibs on the opening day of the season. He also netted in the 5-1 rout over Dundee and the 4-0 win against Motherwell in the first few weeks of the campaign.

Overall, Ki went onto make 41 appearances during the 2011/12 season, scoring 7 goals in the process. Ki claimed his first league winners medal with Celtic that season and come agonisingly close to a possible double and even a highly prestigious treble. He was definitely developing although assertiveness was still an issue.

He made a bit of Celtic history as well. Competing with the South Korean national team in the Summer Olympics in London (August 2012), he pushed his side into the medals winning a bronze, so becoming the first ever Celtic player to win an Olympic medal whilst the player is on our books. High points will have been scoring the winning penalty in a penalty shoot-out to knock-out “Team GB” (sic!) and then defeating local rivals Japan in the third place play-off match for the bronze medal.

Many supporters agree that Ki had improved greatly compared to the previous year. It was generally accepted that he was possibly the most technically gifted player at the club yet many still feel that he lacked enough of a fight in the ”big” games. Of course, this is all open to debate. He did show his skill and quality, and there were many who stated that he was our most talented player. Subjective but could be supported with many examples of his quality. A good ability to play long passes and create moves was his strength even if the physical game wasn’t.

Football needs more than skill; assertiveness and speed are also virtues. Some would say that the losing goal in the League Cup final of 2011/12 stemmed from a lost ball by Ki due to his lack on those fronts. They have a fair point but everyone can make errors.

It was a long season but still he was finding it difficult to make himself a certain starter for every game, not easy with the large glut of quality midfielders Celtic had at the time (i.e. Wanyama, Kayal, Ledley, Brown, Forrest). The midfield had to be repeatedly rotated to keep all happy. Ki nevertheless was still a regular starter in the league which was more than enough indication of the respect from the management for him.

However, he was never a vital player. Possibly youth was part of the reason, but he could flit in and out of games and for a player in his position (central midfield), that was not an attractive ‘attribute’ to have. Commanding the midfield is vital especially now that tactics seems to see the centre of the pitch clogged up. Some would argue that he could be a bit pedestrian, and in the modern fast paced game this is a huge drawback, but he had the ability and time to work on this flaw. Anyone who would try to argue that he was possibly too skillful for the SPL is talking nonsense. Others like Jarosik, Donati and Crosas have been here and failed yet after leaving never showed anything different elsewhere. Others skillful players like Lubo, Nakamura and Izaguirre have come and more than proven themselves.

One incident badly marked Ki’s card down in Scotland. After a match for South Korea v Japan in Asia, Ki decided to goad the opposition support with some monkey gestures. Comical and can be put down to silly banter, however after some criticism, a statement was released claiming that it wasn’t in fact about the Japanese but a retort against the racism he had experienced in Scotland. Pathetic! If he had the guts to make the gesture, he should have had the bottle to apologise or stand by it. It was an insult to Scotland and Celtic for what was said after the generally warm welcome and support that had been offered to him by both within and out of Celtic. Shouldn’t overshadow all else, but it can’t be swept away. Redirecting his errors was a poor decision and a cheap shot. You could argue it was his association who put out the remarks and not him, but it all comes down to Ki and he has to take the flak, he could have made his own statement and apologise for it, but he didn’t.

Don’t wish to put a sour note on his time at Celtic. It was obvious that he enjoyed his time at Celtic and the fans responded in kind. His celebrations when Celtic won trophies showed this and he was a popular frequent tweeter showing what japes he was getting up to. With his loveable compatriot at Celtic from South Korea (Cha-Du Ri) they were a good duo to like as people. Handled himself generally professionally on the field and there was never any silly bleating to the press if he did ever have any qualms. He came with some good talent and definitely grew whilst at the club to be a better player. Part of the plan was always going to be that he would develop and move onto one of the more prestigious leagues. If Celtic could do well with him and then make good money from him then that suited both parties. Guess though the support would have liked to see him stay and develop further with Celtic.

Strangely, just before leaving Celtic, Nike produced an impressive video using Ki about Celtic and his love for the club and the ethos of the club etc in Korean for that market. It was slick and sharp, but he was leaving Celtic, so confusing why it was commissioned. Sure, the sentiment was genuine in his case.

On 24 August 2012, after returning from the Olympics with the South Korean team, he opted to move to Swansea (Welsh team playing in the EPL with footballing great Michael Laudrup as manager), for a transfer fee estimated of £5.5-6.3m with add-ons (est up to £2.5m). Not a bad deal financially on a player Celtic bought for very little, but on a footballing front it was sad to see him go. Maybe if the Celtic First Team wasn’t as blessed with a surplus of quality midfielders then the manager would have had more room to give him more games without the need for player rotation but that wasn’t the situation for him. Possibly he would have more opportunities at Swansea.

We wished him the best. A good talented player who left Celtic with some good memories after some fine goals and performances.

Post-Celtic

After a shaky start, he went on to have a good long career in the top tier in England with Swansea, Sunderland (on loan) and Newcastle before a very brief unsuccessful period at Mallorca in La Liga (Spain). He returned to South Korea to play for FC Seoul.

It can be argued that his long-term success in England had helped push the reputation of East Asian footballers in club football in Europe, and those who have followed have benefitted from time in football in the UK. For that he deserves respect.