Lee Kang-in's lawyer denies physical confrontation with Son Heung-min

Paris St Germain's Lee Kang-in during training at the Paris-Saint-Germain Training Centre in Poissy, France on Tuesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Lee Kang-in's legal representative has refuted claims that there was a physical altercation between the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder and Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min on the sidelines of the Asian Cup last week.

According to Korean reports Thursday, Lee’s legal representative said in a statement that he had apologized for his involvement in an argument with Son, but reports that he took a swing at the captain or that Son grabbed him by the collar are untrue.

Lee had released a statement on Instagram a day earlier apologizing for the incident. None of the wording in Lee’s statement explicitly said it was a physical altercation.

Lee and Son reportedly got in an argument during a team dinner the night before Korea’s semifinal exit to Jordan on Feb. 6.

The incident reportedly happened after some younger members of the team — according to the JoongAng Ilbo, Lee Kang-in, Seol Young-woo and Jeong Woo-yeong — rushed their dinner to go and play table tennis. Son, possibly alongside some other older members of the team, asked the younger players to return to the table to promote team unity.

The younger players reportedly disagreed, and some sort of altercation ensued.

The story was originally broken by Britain’s The Sun, which claimed that the altercation was physical and ended in Son dislocating his finger. Korean media then added that Son grabbed Lee by the collar and Lee took a swing at Son, before Son’s finger was injured while the players dragged them apart.

None of those reports have been verified by any named source — the only official statements so far were the KFA confirming that an altercation between Son and another player, and Lee apologizing for his part in the dispute.

This entire confusing kerfuffle takes place against the backdrop of a football association in crisis, with fans calling for the exit of both manager Jurgen Klinsmann — seen as responsible for Korea’s disappointing performance at the Asian Cup — and chairman Chung Mong-gyu — blamed for both hiring Klinsmann and for the state of Korean football in general.

Some fans believe that the KFA was behind the original leak to The Sun and question whether the unusually quick confirmation of the news yesterday was an attempt to shift the focus off the KFA. Others think the news is intended to make it easier for the KFA to fire Klinsmann — who has faced a lot of criticism in his managerial career but is generally thought to be good at team building — while allowing the KFA to save face, or possibly even to up the pressure on Chung.

The KFA’s National Team Committee met on Thursday morning to discuss the Asian Cup and Klinsmann’s position. The outcome of that meeting is set to be announced at 2 p.m. today.

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