Hong Hyun-seok's Ghent tour de force continues with Player and Goal of the Month honors

Football

Published: 08 Nov. 2022, 15:32

Hong Hyun-seok's Ghent tour de force continues with Player and Goal of the Month honors

KAA Gent's Hong Hyun-seok, right, in action with Molde's Eirik Haugan during a Europa Conference League Group F match at KAA Gent Stadium in Ghent, Belgium on Nov. 3. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

KAA Gent posted a picture on social media of Hong Hyun-seok on Tuesday celebrating becoming Player of the Month and winning Goal of the Month. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Hong Hyun-seok of K.A.A. Gent was named both the club's Player of the Month for October and won Goal of the Month on Monday.

Hong appeared in as many as nine games for Gent in October, including starting on Tuesday in a Belgian Pro League match against Club Brugge KV that Gent won 2-0.

After joining Ghent in August from Austrian side LASK in a deal reportedly worth 1.5 million euros ($1.5 million), the high point of Hong's career at Ghent just may have come in October.

Making a name for himself in Belgium after scoring a stunning bicycle in his very first appearance on Aug. 12, Hong went on to pick up his first assist two games later, on Sept. 1, scoring in the next game on Sept. 4 and picking up another assist on Sept. 11.

The 23-year-old quickly built on that success and established himself in October, scoring a brace during a Belgian Pro League match against Eupen on Oct. 9. On Oct. 27, Hong slotted in the all-important equalizer during the second half of Gent's match against Shamrock Rovers that kept Gent alive in the Europa Conference League.

He currently has four goals and two assists in the league and one goal and two assists in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

This year has been fruitful in other ways for Hong, who before joining Gent was called up to the U-23 Korean national team for the first time this year. He had also appeared in all three LASK games this season before leaving for Gent in August, picking up one assist and helping the club rise to the top of the Austrian Bundesliga with two wins and one draw.

Hong joined LASK in July last year and appeared in 23 games with the Austrian club, picking up five assists. He also played in eight Europa Conference League games, where he added two more assists and picked up a goal against Armenian side FC Alashkert in the group stage.

Hong is a rising star that has picked up three caps for the Korean U-23 team and played his youth career with Ulsan Hyundai in the K League. Before joining LASK he played for Austrian side Juniors OÖ and German club Unterhaching.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]