One of the Swans’ new boys Ki Sung-Jeung has revealed he was close to returning to Korea for military service before the Olympic Games<\/p>\n
However a bronze at the 2012 London games earned the squad an exemption and before he knew it it was a £5.5m move to the Liberty Stadium and the Premier League.<\/p>\n
“I was thinking I would go back to Korea to do my military service for two years, join a Korean club and then retire – but now I can change my plan,” said £5.5m signing Ki.<\/p>\n
“No-one expected us to beat Team GB so we went crazy afterwards.<\/p>\n
“We’d prepared for the Olympics for three years, so we knew how big the victory was.<\/p>\n
“Every man has to go to the military for two years, but if you get a medal at the Olympics you go for just four weeks.<\/p>\n
“If I did not win bronze I would have to go back within four years, now I can play for 10 or 12 more years. It’s good news.<\/p>\n
“It (military service) is not that hard but you don’t get freedom and because I did well in the Olympics I have contributed to my country as a footballer I don’t have to do it.<\/p>\n
“If I do well in Europe it gives people hope, this move is a bonus and I will still go back to Korea one day to play.<\/p>\n
A lot of people say Swansea are called ‘Swanselona’ because they play like Barcelona.<\/p>\n
“Players also have good things to say about Swansea.<\/p>\n
“When I played against them I was very impressed by the style of football they played and they did very well last season.<\/p>\n
“So the main reason I came here is the lovely football they play.<\/p>\n
“The way they keep the ball, it’s the way I try to play football.<\/p>\n
“A lot of football teams don’t play like Swansea, they have shown they can play like a Spanish team.<\/p>\n
“Teams in Korea try to play like that, without the physical side of the game they want to pass and move.<\/p>\n
“Michael Laudrup was also a big attraction for me, and it was always my target to play in the Premier League since I was young. Michael was one of the best players in the world so I want to learn a lot from him.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes I feel a little pressure about the fee because Swansea have paid a lot of money for me and I have to show why,” said Ki.<\/p>\n
“I know I will need some time to adapt to my new team, they have done very well in the first two games and are looking for another win this weekend.<\/p>\n
“I am not sure I will start, but it does not matter if I get a chance.<\/p>\n
“I have to make sure I am in the team as quickly as possible and I am confident I can fit into this team.<\/p>\n
“I played in the Europa League last season and it would have been a good experience to play in the Champions League.<\/p>\n
“I could have stayed at Celtic and played in the Champions League, but now I have the chance to play against some of the biggest clubs in the world like Manchester United and Chelsea every week.”<\/p>\n
“There will be a difference in quality between Scotland and the Premier League, but English football and Scottish football are the same.<\/p>\n
“It’s a step up but I’m looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the Swans’ new boys Ki Sung-Jeung has revealed he was close to returning to Korea for military service before the Olympic Games However a bronze at the 2012 London games earned the squad an exemption and before he knew it it was a £5.5m move to the Liberty Stadium and the Premier League. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/453"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}