Caps shell out for South Korean star
Vancouver reportedly pays $1.8-million transfer fee for 22-year-old midfielder Hwang In-Beom
With Anthony Blondell’s airport Instagram post bidding Vancouver goodbye, the page has officially been turned to the next chapter for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The Venezuelan striker, reportedly moving to Chilean club Huachipato after a disappointing 2018 season in Major League Soccer, was one of the few holdovers from the Carl Robinson era.
It also means the Caps have just one striker — the Homegrown Theo Bair — currently on their roster, although a flurry of signings in the past week have fleshed out the rest of the team.
The officially announced signings of midfielders Jon Erice, Lass Banghoura and Lucas Venuto momentarily placated a fan base hungry for action, but the reported additions of two more players — Tunisian centreback Jasser Khemiri and South Korean midfielder Hwang In-Beom — have painted a tantalizing picture of the team’s potential.
One thing that stands out with Hwang’s addition was the team’s willingness to open the wallet. His reported transfer fee was $1.8 million, meaning the Caps outbid two German Bundesliga 2 teams who had offered between $700,000 to $1.2 million. That’s a windfall for Hwang’s team, the community-owned Daejeon Citizen FC, who had been asking for up to $3.5 million.
The 22-year-old Hwang, frequently described as a young Park Ji-sung — the former Manchester United midfielder — just finished playing for his national team in the 2019 Asia Cup in Abu Dhabi, where South Korea was eliminated in the quarter-finals with a 1-0 loss to Qatar.
While his club team played in the Korean second division, he was named to the league all-star team three straight seasons and is tabbed as one of the best young players on one of Asia’s top national teams. The fact he starts for South Korea despite playing in K2 speaks volumes as to his ability.
Hwang wouldn’t be the first South Korean player to suit up for the Whitecaps. Y.P. Lee played 65 games for Vancouver in 2012 and 2013, but the Caps signed the Korean legend when he was in his final years, while Hwang is just at the start of his.
“One thing to keep in mind about Hwang is he’s never been transferred before. He’s … played his entire life there,” said Devon Rowcliffe, a South Korean soccer expert whose book — Who Ate All The Squid? Football Adventures in South Korea — is scheduled to be published later this year.
“This is going to be his first time going overseas. He’s still just 22, so one of the big things that might make or break this is how well he handles it.
“Usually, Koreans are pretty good at adapting — there’s quite a few playing in Europe now — but I think for him on a personal level, if he can settle well in Vancouver, it will probably increase his chances of playing well.
“The big South Korean community in Vancouver will probably help with that, so it’s probably wise to come to a club like Vancouver if he’s going to play in MLS.”
The 5-8, 140-pounder can play centrally or on the wing, but thrives as an attacking mid — a box-to-box No. 8. He’s known for precision passing, aggressive tackling, possession composure and a willingness to take on defenders with the ball at his feet — all the hallmarks of Marc Dos Santos’s style of play.
The one unknown is how his slight frame will hold up in MLS, a league full of athletic physical players. With the amount of interest from European teams, Hwang’s move could be seen as a stepping stone to the elite leagues after a few seasons of development.
“If he bulks up his upper body and can handle the MLS physicality, he’s probably the type of player the Whitecaps will want to hang on to for a while, because he has his peak years still ahead of him,” said Rowcliffe. “So that’s an exciting prospect.”
Hwang looks to be the missing piece in midfield for Vancouver, but there are still needs across the pitch, most glaringly a striker.
The Whitecaps had been linked to a move for Icelandic forward Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, but team officials shot down those reports on Saturday.
Sigthorsson, who cracked double-digits in goals for Ajax Amsterdam in 2015, and scored the goal that knocked England out of the 2016 Euros, has been languishing on the bench for Ligue 1 side FC Nantes, being relegated to training with the reserve side. He injured his knee in 2016 and hasn’t recaptured his old form, and the move to Vancouver and MLS did raise some eyebrows considering his previous disinclination to playing on turf.
The Caps have been linked to another striker, Iran’s Sardar Azamoun, but his asking price will likely be rising after a standout performance at the Asia Cup. The Rubin Kazan target man is a big target of several European teams himself — ranking among the top five players available and with an asking fee of around $14 million, according to transfermarkt.com.
With Iran in the semifinals of the Asia Cup, he’s focusing solely on the tournament, so his destination won’t be known until after Iran finishes play. The Russian transfer window, which started Jan. 23, runs until Feb. 22.