Gwangju clear path for Eom Ji-sung to join Swansea

Football

Published: 01 Jul. 2024, 13:18 Updated: 01 Jul. 2024, 17:09

Gwangju clear path for Eom Ji-sung to join Swansea

Korea's Eom Ji-sung shoots during a U-23 Asian Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan at Changwon Football Center in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Sept. 9, 2023. [YONHAP]

Gwangju FC have agreed to allow the transfer of forward Eom Ji-sung to Championship side Swansea City, with details of the deal still to be finalized.

After earlier reports that Gwangju would block the move, an official on Monday told the Korea JoongAng Daily that the K League 1 team has decided to permit the move, although the deal is still being finalized.

The yet-to-be completed transfer comes after Gwangju reportedly rejected a $1 million offer for the 22-year-old last week. How much the deal later became is unclear, although some local reports put the number close to $1.3 million.

The move comes after some back and forth over the weekend, with Eom's agent quoted in both Korean and British media criticizing the club for blocking the deal and going back on a promise made when Eom turned down an offer a Major League Soccer club earlier in his career.

If Eom joins Swansea, it will leave Gwangju stuck to find a replacement in the middle of the 2024 K League 1 season, where Gwangju sit in seventh place on the table as of Monday.

Gwangju are only half way through the 2024 campaign and will have a busier schedule next season due to the 2024-25 AFC Champions League Elite, which they qualified for after finishing in third place in the K League 1 last year.

Eom has seen a relatively slow start to the 2024 campaign with three goals in 15 league fixtures, but had been a core part of the squad since joining the southern club in 2021.

In his debut season, he established himself as a regular pick and appeared in 37 K League 1 matches recording four goals and one assist.

He pulled off another good performance the following season in the K League 2, scoring nine goals across 28 fixtures to lead his side to promotion back to the top tier.

That 2022 season also earned him K League 2 Young Player of the Year honors. The 2023 campaign saw him shifting himself to more of a playmaking role with which he racked up five goals and four assists across 28 games.

Eom’s strength is his speed and finishing, with Gwangju manager Lee Jung-hyo regularly praising both. He has played both on the left wing and in the center this season, scoring one goal from each position.

Eom has made one appearance for the senior Korean squad and he made it count, scoring a goal during his 14-minute debut with the Taeguk Warriors in a 5-1 rout against Iceland in January 2022.

But while he may not be a regular pick for the senior squad, Eom has made regular picks for the U-23 team. He’s been called up for seven games already this season, including as a core part of the squad that won the WAFF U-23 Championship in March.

Eom proved crucial in that tournament, scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 semifinal victory over Saudi Arabia, assisted by Stoke City's Bae Jun-ho, to carry Korea through to the final. He played the full 90 minutes in the final as well, with Korea winning on penalties.

Eom also started most of Korea’s games at the AFC U-23 Asian Cup in April, which Korea exited in the quarterfinals.

If the move goes ahead, Eom will become the second Korean to play for Swansea after Ki Sung-yueng, who was on the books with the club from 2012 through 2018, which spans from their second season in the Premier League after promotion to their last in the top tier before relegation to the second division.

Swansea have not earned promotion back to the Premier League since facing relegation in 2018.

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