Hwang UI-jo joins Turkish Super Lig side Alanyaspor on loan

Hwang Ui-jo poses for a photo in an Alanyaspor jersey in a photo shared on the club's official Instagram account on Tuesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Hwang Ui-jo has joined Turkish team Alanyaspor on a loan through the end of the 2023-24 season with no buy option, the club announced Tuesday.

The 31-year-old striker joins the club, based in the southern city of Alanya and currently ranked at No. 14 on the Super Lig table, on loan from Premier League side Nottingham Forest.

“I would like to thank everyone, starting from the club's president, for their interest in me," Hwang said in a statement published in Turkish on the club's website and translated into English using Google Translate. "From the first moment I arrived, everyone made me feel very welcome. Of course, I will do my best on the pitch, in training, everywhere and try to contribute to the team.”

The 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 was loaned out to Championship side Norwich City where he scored three goals in 17 matches.

Norwich, however ended the loan deal seventh months early and sent him back to Forest last month.

Hwang also did not play at the Asian Cup where Korea crashed out in the semifinals after a loss to Jordan on Tuesday, as he has been suspended by the Korean national team since November last year for the duration of an ongoing investigation into allegations that he illegally filmed sex videos without his partners’ consent.

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