PSG expected to add a stop in Korea this summer

Lee Kang-in poses with the Korean flag while wearing a Paris Saint-Germain shirt in a photo released by the club on Saturday. [PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN]

Paris Saint-Germain could be making a last-minute stop off in Korea this summer, with reports Monday that the Ligue 1 champions are scrambling to schedule a game with K League club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

A visit to Korea is not out of the question for PSG, who are already set to visit Japan from July 22 to Aug. 2 on a long pre-season tour. The club is reportedly keen to add a stop in Korea, presumably to tap in to the popularity of new signing Lee Kang-in, a versatile midfielder with a huge following here.

The game with Jeonbuk, if it goes ahead, is expected to be held at the Busan Asiad Stadium in Busan on Aug. 3, avoiding the capital area where Manchester City and Atletico Madrid are playing in the Coupang Play Series at the end of July.

A source at Korea's K League confirmed off the record Monday that there is no reason as far as the league is concerned that a game between PSG and Jeonbuk cannot go ahead as proposed on Aug. 3, although the league is yet to officially comment on the plan.

Korean football fans are likely to meet any exhibition game rumors with a healthy amount of skepticism, however, having already been stung multiple times this summer by failed attempts to bring international teams to Korea.

Rumors of a June clash between Napoli and Mallorca — the club that Lee called home until this week — fell flat, reportedly because organizers Stadium X and Untouchable Sport Group failed to put together the necessary funding to bring the two teams here.

Those same organizers were behind the 2023 Korea Tour, a new exhibition series that had features Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, Scottish Premiership side Celtic and Serie A club Roma. All three teams withdrew from the series in the last two weeks, again because the promoters failed to meet financial commitments.

That leaves just Atletico and City heading to Korea this summer, with Atletico to take on a team of K League players on July 27 and then face City on July 30. In theory that leaves plenty of opportunity for PSG to visit and take on Jeonbuk or any other K League side, with Coupang Play also already linked as the possible promoter for the game.

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