Park Ji Sung

Former Korean international skipper Park Ji-Sung has found himself in Manchester United’s list of their top players for their respective countries in what is a very rare honor for an Asian player at a club like United.

Park, who currently plays for Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, finds himself in a list of 25 players compiled by his former club United as performers with the best track records for their national teams. Park was ranked 17th on that list as published on the website of Manchester United with the title ‘United’s Greatest National Service’.

The former Korean international player became the first ever Asian player to represent the English giants when he signed for the club from PSV back in 2003 and he spent almost a decade at the club and was one of former manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s go-to players. Park Ji-Sung won four Premier League titles, two League Cups, the UEFA Champions League as well as the FIFA Club World Cup during his time at Old Trafford.

He was sold to Queens Park Rangers last summer with reports emerging at the time crediting the player’s father for engineering the move as he thought Park would not be getting enough playing time at United any more. But his stint at Loftus Road didn’t turn out to be very positive for him as the side suffered relegation and he was released from his contract, only for former club PSV to come back and make an offer to take him back, an offer he couldn’t reject.

The list describes Park Ji-Sung as a player with limitless ability and energy who played his heart for both club and country, becoming the first player from Asia to score in three consecutive World Cups when he scored the opener against Greece in South Africa in 2010.

Philip Cocu, the manager of Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven has confirmed the club is trying to tie up a deal to bring Queens Park Rangers’ Korean midfielder Park Ji Sung back to the Philips Stadium.

The former captain of the Korean national team has reportedly been told by the club management at Queens Park Rangers that he is surplus to requirements at the club and is free to move just a year after joining the Loftus Road club from Manchester United on a two year deal last summer.

Park made 25 appearances for Rangers last season as they were relegated from the Premier League to the Championship and is now being lined up by the former Dutch champions for a return to the Netherlands where he spent two years before being sold to Manchester United in 2005. Park Ji Sung played for some time alongside the former Barcelona midfielder Cocu at PSV and according to the manager, the 32 year old is a perfect fit for the club.
He added that the midfielder has all the experience in the world, having played for Manchester United in all the major competitions and would be a valuable addition to the squad. According to the Dutchman, Park is a really valuable player because of his experience of playing in a top side like Manchester United.

Moreover, he has also played at the club for a couple of seasons and knows the club inside out and it wouldn’t take him too long to get settled once again. Cocu went on to add that the players who play upfront for the club at the moment are extremely talented but they could always learn from a player like Park Ji Sung who has played top level football for a very long time in a team like Manchester United.

Harry Redknapp, the Queens Park Rangers manager has claimed that he would like to complete the signing or four or five players during the summer transfer window as he gets ready to lead the club’s promotion charge back to the Premier League next season.

The Championship club came very close to pulling off the signing of england striker Gary Hooper from scottish giants Celtic but the move fell through in the end and ultimately, Premier League club Norwich City swooped to complete a swift deal for the player who had been the star of the Bhoys’ Scottish Premier League campaign last term.

And though visibly upset at losing out on one of his prime transfer targets, Harry Redknapp is still upbeat that he can bring in four or five new players who can help the club gain promotion back to the Premier League. Redknapp also mentioned that he was upset at losing out on signing Hooper, who wanted to come to Queens Park Rangers but a lack of effort from the club management allowed Norwich City to swoop for him.

And although Hooper has gone on record to state that the lure of the Premier League would have been hard to turn down, the former West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur manager has insisted that Hooper wanted a move to Loftus Road and not Carrow Road.

Speaking of the new season, Harry stated that the club is building a team for the term and he still has a few players on his shortlist of targets but added that when he does put his team together, it will be a strong lineup, capable of beating andy and every side in the Championship.

Queens Park Rangers get their Championship campaign underway against Sheffied Wednesday at home in Loftus Road on the 3rd of August.

The manager of Queens Park Rangers, Harry Redknapp, has said that he is going to be strict in the next season and will not tolerate any misbehaving act in the changing room.

QPR has been relegated from the Premier League this season, but, the owners have decided to retain Redknapp as the manager.

There have been a lot of reports recently about the indifferent behaviour of QPR players in the ongoing season. It has also been said that the manager was not strict enough in his approach.

Now, the QPR boss has made it clear what his approach is going to be in the next season.

Redknapp said, “You don’t want disputes in the changing room. You want everybody to be in a good frame of mind. Only then, you can get the results going in your favour.”

“You don’t want such characters in the group who misbehave. If anyone is doing that, no matter how big a player he is, he will have to face the consequences. Our focus is to build a good environment in the changing room in the next season.”

Also, Redknapp looked upset about players using their Twitter accounts too much. A couple of days back, Stephane Mbia sent a tweet to Joey Barton telling him that he wanted to leave QPR and join a club in France.

When asked about that, Redknapp said, “It’s completely senseless. The time that they spend using their Twitter accounts, if they spend that much more time in practicing, they can be better players.”

“Things won’t be like this here in the next season. There will be a lot of changes as far as discipline is concerned. The players will have to show full dedication in training sessions, in games, everywhere.”

Manchester United has defeated Queens Park Rangers in a Premier League match played at Loftus Road Stadium on Saturday. United won the match by 2-0.

With this victory, United has now established a 15-points lead over the defending champions Manchester City. However, United has played one match more than City. Currently, United has 68 points in 27 matches.

For this match, the manager of QPR, Harry Redknapp, brought one of his key players Jose Bosingwa back into the starting XI.

On the other hand, Van Persie returned to the starting line up of United to play with Chicharito upfront.

United took the lead in the 23rd minute of the match. It was a great goal by Rafael da Silva. A cross from Robin Van Persie was pushed by Julio Cesar and Silva got the ball just outside the penalty area. He latched on that chance and smashed the ball with extreme power into the top corner of the net. Julio Cesar couldn’t have done anything. It was certainly one of the best goals of the tournament.

QPR could have levelled the scores in the 35th minute, but, it was Rafael da Silva again who denied QPR from scoring the leveller by clearing an excellent header from Christopher Samba.

Just 5 minutes before the half time break, Robin Van Persie came off the field because of a back injury.

United got ahead by 2-0 in the later part of the second half. Ryan Giggs was the scorer this time around. He cashed on Nani’s cross and slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

This was QPR’s 14th defeat in the league. Harry Redknapp’s team is currently at the last position in the points table with only 17 points in 27 matches.

Park Ji-Sung has said that he is not unhappy to be terminated as the captain of Queens Park rangers. The South Korean midfielder had been out of action since the last three months because of injury and he started the match for QPR first time after October against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. That was a FA cup clash which ended in a draw. Park Ji-Sung didn’t wear the captain’s armband in that match and the manager of QPR, Harry Redknapp decided to persist with Clint Hill as the skipper.

After the match, when Park Ji-Sung was asked if he is unhappy after being removed as captain, Park said, “No, I am not upset at all. It’s the decision of the manager and I respect his decision. In my absence, Clint did well as skipper and there is no harm in persisting with him. He is a good leader.”

“As far as I am concerned, I am a senior player and I don’t need that captain’s armband to feel that there is a huge responsibility on my shoulders. Even without that band, I know that I need to guide the youngsters and help them out.”

“At this point of time, I am happy that I have recovered from injury and have managed to make a comeback. It’s nice to be back on the field after such a long time. Hopefully, I would not have to face any injury problems in the remaining part of the season.”

When asked about the recent performances of QPR, Park said, “We have done well in the last couple of games. We won against Chelsea on Wednesday. That was a great victory for us as Chelsea is a heavyweight side. And, we played well in today’s match as well. Hopefully, we would maintain our good form in the further matches.”

The manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, has said that Park Ji-Sung was one of the best midfielders who played for United during his 26 years tenure at the club. Park Ji-Sung currently plays for the Queens Park Rangers. He left United in July this year and signed a two-year contract for QPR. He was also named as the captain of QPR in his debut season.

Talking to the reporters ahead of the match against QPR, Ferguson said, “Park is an enormously talented midfielder. He has great reach and he can do some amazing things on the field. During my tenure at Old Trafford so far, some great midfielders have played for the club, but, If I will have to choose top 10 of them, Park will certainly be in that list. He was simply outstanding.”

“The most amazing thing about Park is that he always keeps his cool on the field. You will hardly see him getting angry. He quietly does his job. He knows how to hold the nerves during the tough situations and that’s why, he is a big match player. He contributed immensely for us in a number of big matches.”

When asked whether the fans of United still love Park, Ferguson said, “I think yes. They still like him and follow him. He was one of our most popular players when he used to play for us. He isn’t a part of United now, but, his popularity hasn’t decreased.”

When asked about the upcoming match against QPR, Ferguson said, “It’s an important match for us. We were terrible in the last match, but, the boys are up for this match. I hope that the mistakes of the previous game would not be repeated this time around and we would put up a good show.”

The skipper of Queens Park Rangers, Park Ji Sung, has said that his team will definitely make a strong comeback in the upcoming matches. The performance of the QPR team has been very poor in the current season. The team has played 6 matches in the current season and lost four of them. And, those defeats were not close defeats, they were massive ones.

The QPR team suffered a heavy defeat in its very first match of the season against Swansea City. Mark Hughes’ side was thrashed by Swansea City by a huge margin of 5-0.

QPR played a bit better in the second game against Norwich City, but, in the Capital One Cup match against Walsall, the team again looked off colour and got defeated by 3-0 which is certainly not a small margin.

QPR’s poor form continued against Manchester City and the team lost to the defending champions by 3-1. QPR managed to grab one point against Chelsea in the next match. That match ended in a goalless draw. It seemed that the QPR team had regained a bit of form. But, the team again lost to the Spurs on Sunday by 2-1.

In the match against Tottenham, the QPR team made a good start and took a lead in the first half with the goal of Bobby Zamora, but, in the second half, Mark Hughes’ boys played some very ordinary football and lost the advantage. The Spurs fired in two goals in the second half to pull off a victory.
The QPR team is currently at no.19 in the Premier League points table with two points in five matches. But, the QPR captain is pretty confident that his boys will put up better performances in the upcoming matches.

Park Ji Sung was quoted as saying, “We will definitely come back strongly. I thought we played decently against Tottenham and we didn’t deserve to lose. We got a bit panicked after that own goal from Faurlin and Tottenham was quick to take the advantage. But, I have got full faith in the boys. We are not too far from our first victory in the League.”

QPR will play its next match against Reading on Wednesday at the Loftus Road Stadium.

New Manchester United signing Shinji Kagawa has said that the South Korean midfielder Park Ji sung is his inspiration. The South Korean midfielder Park Ji sung recently completed his move away from Old Trafford, thus bringing his seven year spell with the club to an end. He has joined the Premier league rivals QPR for a fee of around £ 2 million, which could rise up to £ 5 million. Even though many predicted that Park Ji sung was being signed by Manchester United only to sell shirts in Asia, the 31-year-old has grown in stature under the guidance of Alex Ferguson.

He has become the first Asian player to play in the Champions League final. He has achieved numerous personal accolades during his seven years at Manchester United, while he has also lifted many major trophies. Due to his incredible work rate and quality, Sir Alex Ferguson often selects Park Ji sung as the first name on the team sheet for the big matches. The Borussia Dortmund midfielder Shinji Kagawa has arrived for a transfer fee of £ 12 million, which could rise to up to £ 17 million. He is expected to be the creative force for the team next season.

“This is only the beginning for me. But Park Ji-Sung is the best player Asia has ever produced – there’s no doubt about that. He played regularly for United for a long time and I can’t be sure how long it will take me to establish myself in the team like him. But I will always work hard to do so. Watching him play for United motivated me a lot. I began to truly believe Asian players could play in big clubs,” said Shinji Kagawa in his first press conference as a Manchester United player.

South Korean legend Ahn Jung-Hwan has said that he is sure that Manchester United midfielder Park Ji sung will return to South Korea to play in the K-League in the summer. Manchester United midfielder Park Ji sung has been one of the regular big-game players at the club.

He has often been selected in the big games in order to stifle the opposition with his bountiful energy. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson considers him to be one of the key numbers of the squad at Manchester United. His confidence in the South Korean was reflected in the fact that he started in the 3-1 defeat against Barcelona in the Champions League final last summer.

However, a number of injuries at the start of the season has meant that he has lost his place to more younger players. In the last few months, Park Ji sung has not started a Premier league game until the Manchester derby on April 30. However, it clearly showed that Ji sung was not up to the standards after not starting in the Manchester United midfielder regularly. The 31-year-old has been linked with a return to his homeland in order to finish his career. South Korean legend Ahn Jung-Hwan hopes that the time has come for Park Ji sung to finally return to South Korea.

“I’m excited that I’m going to meet fans from my hometown Suwon where I dreamt of becoming a national team member from childhood,” Park said. “I think Ji-sung will help us once he retires. Like me, Ji-Sung received a lot of support from fans, so I think he should also help the K-League,” Ahn said. Park Ji sung’s last match in South Korea was way back in 2003. He is all set to be replaced by Borussia Dortmund’s Japanese player Kagawa.