Hwang Ui-jo is still stuck at Olympiacos as transfer clock ticks down

Olympiacos' Hwang Ui-jo fights for the ball with Nantes' French defender Nicolas Pallois during a Europa League match at La Beaujoire stadium in Nantes on Sept. 8, 2022. [AFP/YONHAP]

With just over 24 hours left in the January transfer window, Korean midfielder Hwang Ui-jo still finds himself stuck at a club that clearly doesn’t want to use him, a few offers on the table and the clock very quickly running down.

Hwang, a Korean national team starter that has slipped from Ligue 1 star to Greek Super League reject in less than a year, has been linked to Major League Soccer teams Atlanta United and Minnesota United, with Chicago Fire also reportedly tendering an offer over the weekend.

The tepid transfer market interest is just the latest twist of the knife for Hwang, who has seen things go from bad to worse since he was shipped off to Greece in the summer.

After making a slow start to his career with Olympiacos, where he is technically on loan from Nottingham Forest, the striker has been entirely excluded from the squad for the last nine Super League games, and has only played more than 11 minutes in three league matches this season.

In the Europa League he has seen more success, appearing in every game this season until Olympiacos was knocked out in November.

He has not scored a single goal in all competitions and has just one assist in a league game on Sept. 3. Considering that he spent the last two seasons as Bordeaux’s top scorer in the French Ligue 1, Hwang’s form has taken an exceptionally steep dive and, at 30, it’s difficult to imagine how many opportunities he is going to get to bounce back.

With Hwang’s form showing little sign of improving in Greece, the club are now entertaining offers from overseas for the Korean forward. As Hwang has already played for both Bordeaux and Olympiacos this season, he is ineligible to play competitive games for a third team under FIFA rules.

However, if Hwang moves to a team playing in a league that does not follow a concurrent schedule to the Greek league, he will be able to play. The most obvious candidates for Hwang’s new home are teams in Korea or the United States.

Enter the MLS clubs, which are also presumably Hwang’s preferred option. But despite the interest from the United States being on the table since the very start of the transfer window, Hwang is still stuck in Piraeus, Greece.

The situation is likely complicated by the involvement of Nottingham Forest alongside Olympiacos. Hwang is on loan to Olympiacos, who clearly don’t really want the loan any more, but is owned by Forest. If an MLS club wants to take over a loan they would need to work with both parties, while buying him out right would involve a deal with Forest while also potentially breaching the loan deal with Olympiacos.

Muddying the waters further, both Olympiacos and Forest are owned by Greek media mogul Evangelos Marinakis who’s involvement with both clubs has led to a convoluted business relationship between the two. Complicating things further, he was also recently elected president of the Greek Super League for the second time.

Of the MLS offers on the table, the Chicago Fire deal seems to have progressed the most, with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano saying Sunday that an offer has been made and discussions are ongoing. With just a few hours left before the transfer window closes, however, those discussions better wrap-up quickly.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]