Minnesota United has finally gotten the Korean attacker they’ve been chasing!
No, not Hwang Ui-Jo, who they sought to sign twice — once from Bordeaux after their relegation from Ligue 1 and once from Nottingham Forest by way of Olympiakos.
No, not Cho Gue-Sung, who chose to stay with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors until the summer amid interest from the Loons as well as several European clubs.
Third time’s a charm though and 20-year-old Jeong Sang-bin is in Minnesota, ready to sign a new deal with the Loons. He will be the club’s second U22 initiative player alongside Bongokuhle Hlongwane; he’ll retain that status until he’s 25, though my hunch is that he’ll have moved on before that point anyway — more on this later.
So, who is the young attacker once dubbed the Korean Mbappe?
Jeong came up through the Suwon Samsung Bluewings’ academy making his debut with the club in March of 2021, his age-18 season. He was the team’s joint-leading scorer, netting six times that season and notching one assist in 1871 minutes (23 starts) primarily as the left-sided forward in a 3-5-2, though he also saw time up top on the right.
Fun fact: He was teammates that season with Doneil Henry, who also found his way to the Loons, so they’ll have a reunion some 10,000 km from the last place the two played together.
His talent as an attacker was clear after his first season with Suwon as evidenced by the nickname — no pressure, kid — as well as the fact that Wolverhampton Wanderers apparently tried to sign him in the summer before coming back to secure his move in January of 2022. He was immediately loaned to Grasshoppers, a Swiss side in its first season back in the top flight.
He appeared in six matches that season, including a pair of starts, again mostly as a left-sided forward in some type of multi-striker formation. Grasshoppers experimented with 3-4-3, 4-3-3, and 4-4-2 formations, but Jeong’s role was consistently up top. He struggled to make an impact, however, having committed more fouls (1) than taken shots (0) in his 178 minutes.
An ankle injury delayed his start to the 2022-23 season, forcing him to the sidelines until October 8, when he started and played 62 minutes against relegation-threatened Sion. He would start the team’s next game as well before another ankle injury forced him out until after the Swiss winter break. Unsurprisingly, this cost him a starting spot and since his return on Jan 21 — when he recorded his first shot on target for the team — he has played just 45 minutes.
If Adrian Hunou’s name and saga is flashing in your mind, I can’t blame you.
Transfermarkt has him playing predominantly on the right wing this season so far, but when time is coming in 5-7 minute patches, it’s debatable how representative that really is. He’s certainly not playing a winger the same way someone like Robin Lod or Franco Fragapane is, so either the Loons are moving to a multi-striker formation or he’s going to have to learn a new role. Or, possibly, both.
Getting a player of Jeong’s talent level for free or extremely cheap is a great deal for the Loons. Everything that follows should be seen through that lens: This is a smart move, the kind the team should be trying to make nearly every offseason, and really what the U22 initiative slots are for on a team that isn’t going to try to add a $4-5 million player and turn him into a $20 million one.
But this exact player for the Loons as they’re currently constructed? It’s an odd fit. If this move is going to be a successful one for both sides, one factor looms largest: playing time.
One of Jeong’s stated goals is to get more playing time ahead of this summer’s Asian Games, which makes sense given the rust accumulating on him at Grasshoppers. Fortunately for him, the games don’t commence until September, so he has time to break into the squad and get games back in his legs. Unfortunately for the Loons, if he does become a key contributor, they’ll lose him for critical games down the stretch.
But that playing time is far from guaranteed.
If you were playing Loons Guess Who and said you asked for a player that can play through the middle or on the right, who was not a dominant goal-scorer, but had showed flashes of brilliance, you’d still have Jeong, Hlongwane, Robin Lod, and Mender Garcia up. Luis Amarilla and Tani Oluwaseyi only miss out for not being able to play right wing, but if Jeong is going to move back into a true striker role, they’re barriers to his playing time as well.
Even if he does jump to the head of the line for playing time, it will likely take him a few weeks at the very least to adjust to new teammates and the flow of a new league. Nearly every mid-season addition for Minnesota United has taken time to adjust to the team and the league. Lod’s first half-season in MLS was quite poor before he became one of the league’s most underrated assets the next season. Hunou never really got his feet under him, and even Hlongwane has looked much more comfortable and assertive this season; the list goes on from there.
I’m genuinely hopeful that Jeong adjusts quickly; plays with a chip on his shoulder, determined to show the talent that earned him a move to Europe in the first place; and earns the playing time he wants and needs to regain his place with the Korean national team. But the gap between his upside and his downside is why I feel comfortable suggesting that his time with the Loons won’t be long, even if it is successful.
If he plays anywhere near his ceiling, he’ll not only earn the playing time he wants, but also become a fixture in the lineup. As he shows off the attacking skill that made him a prodigy to a global audience, other teams will come calling and his time at Grasshoppers will be one of those blips in an otherwise stellar career. The Loons will have to choose between keeping the talented player they were willing to stand by, likely needing to move him to a DP deal when his contract ends, and selling him on for a huge profit. Faced with the prospect of spending a bunch of money or making a bunch of money, most MLS teams understandably take the payout.
If he doesn’t play notably well, he’ll fade in and out of the lineup based on the performance of his teammates, how he does in practice, etc. but five years of that isn’t anyone’s idea of satisfying, so it’s not hard to believe he’d eventually push for a move either back to Korea or somewhere else to try and get his breakthrough. Either way, he likely won’t stay in MLS past his time in the U22 slots.
This could be a terrific signing for the Loons, fans should be excited to see what Jeong brings to the team, but patience — from fans, from his teammates, and even from himself — is going to be the name of the game. If he does come good, the Loons might finally have the striker they’ve searched for since arriving in MLS.