Hwang Ui-jo to join Turkish club Alanyaspor on loan: Reports

Hwang Ui-jo speaks during an FC Seoul media day held at HJ Convention Center in eastern Seoul on Feb. 22, 2023. [NEWS1]

Nottingham Forest striker Hwang Ui-jo looks set to move to Turkish team Alanyaspor on a loan through the end of the 2023-24 season, according to reports Monday.

Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, who is known as one of Europe’s top authorities on transfer news, tweeted Monday that Alanyaspor has already reached an agreement with Forest that will keep him at the club until the end of the 2023-24 Super Lig season with no buy option.

The report comes after Championship team Norwich City ended a loan deal for Hwang seventh months early last month.

Hwang will be available to move to Turkey immediately, as he is not on national duty in Qatar at the Asian Cup after being suspended from the Korean national team in November last year until the end of an ongoing investigation into allegations that he illegally filmed sex videos without his partners' consent.

The investigation stems from an Instagram post in June last year shared by an unidentified individual who claimed to be an ex-lover of Hwang. The person posted a video in which a naked man was with a woman and claimed the man was Hwang.

She also accused Hwang of filming sexual encounters without consent and having sexual relationships with multiple women at the same time. Hwang denied the allegations later that month and sued for defamation and blackmail.

The police arrested the individual on Nov. 16 on charges of blackmail. It was later revealed that the arrested person was Hwang’s sister-in-law.

Police summoned Hwang for questioning in November on suspicion of filming the videos without consent. Hwang appeared before the police on Nov. 18, and was held under a travel ban until the end of January.

The possible move to Turkey marks the latest twist in what has also been a tumultuous few footballing years for the 31-year-old, who went from top scorer at a Ligue 1 club to persona non grata in the Greek Super League in the space of a year, then pivoted to the K League before getting called back to warm Forest’s bench last summer.

After a successful career in Korea and Japan, Hwang, a traditional out-in-front forward, moved to Europe with French club Bordeaux in 2019, becoming the club’s top scorer in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns. He was considered a top prospect in the French league at the time, with the official Ligue 1 website repeatedly highlighting him as a player to watch in the transfer market.

But cash-strapped Bordeaux held on until it was too late, refusing to consider a deal until the summer of 2022, when the club crashed into financial administration and faced the threat of double relegation.

Forest, who were in the middle of one of the biggest shopping sprees in European football history at the time, snapped Hwang up and immediately loaned him out to Greek club Olympiacos.

Hwang, in the middle of a difficult slump, struggled to adapt to the Super League club and ended up relegated to the bench and, ultimately, out of the squad completely. That loan ended in January last year when Forest instead shipped him off to FC Seoul.

Back in the K League, Hwang began to find his feet again, scoring four goals and four assists in 18 appearances and again finding the back of the net for the national team — where he has 56 caps — as well.

Hwang was called back to Nottingham last summer, but apart from a few preseason appearances he has spent the time on the bench. The move to Norwich provided far more playing chances, although that was also cut short.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN, JIM BULLEY [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]