Park Seung-soo Unfolded Korean Flag, EPL Master Newcastle Stomped on Korean soil for the first time in 133 yearsTeam K League clash with Tottenham

Jul 29, 2025

'New Newcastle Man'Park Seung-soo unfurled the Korean flag. It was the first time Newcastle United visited South Korea in the club's history.

Newcastle's squad arrived at Incheon International Airport on the 28th. It is the first time in 133 years that Newcastle has visited Korea.

Founded in 1892, Newcastle is a renowned EPL house in northeastern England. In particular, it is famous for the enthusiasm of fans. Ki Sung-yueng plays from 2020 to 2022 and is familiar to Korean fans as well. Newcastle, who won four first division titles and six FA Cups, performed well in the 1990s with active investment, but showed ups and downs in the 2000s. Then, in 2021, Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman took over the team and quickly turned it into a rich club. Newcastle, which had been changing teams through active investment, broke its 70-year record last season, won the League Cup, and succeeded in advancing to the European Champions League.

Newcastle, which expanded to the Asian stage, stepped on Korean soil as the best member. Superstars such as Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali greeted Korean fans with Taegeukgi. Newcastle players, who came straight from a friendly match with Arsenal in Hong Kong, forgot their tiredness from the welcome of domestic fans and faithfully worked on photos and autographs.

Newcastle will play the team K League at Suwon World Cup Stadium on the 30th and Tottenham Hotspur at Seoul World Cup Stadium on August 3.

Park Seung-soo received the most attention in Korea this time. Newcastle recruited winger Park Seung-soo, who played for Suwon Samsung, through its official channel on the 24th' announced.

Park Seung-soo said on Newcastle SNS, "'Short-term goal is to show good performances and make a quick debut.'" `The long-term goal is to become the best player in the Premier League.' Steve Harper, the club's youth director, said, `Park Seung-soo has great potential and is an interesting talent.' `Although he is young, he has matured on the professional stage. We are pleased to have joined our club."

Park Seung-soo was a 'hot guy' that all of Europe was paying attention to. March of last year was the beginning. The U-17 national team, which includes Park Seung-soo, went on training in Germany. He played practice matches against Bayern Munich, Salzburg and Hoffenheim under-19 teams. Through this match, Park impressed European scouts. Park Seung-soo, who went between the front line and the side, made an impressive play. Park Seung-soo, who had speed, breakthrough power and physicality, and not only the three clubs who played practice games, but also Southampton, who accidentally visited, were fascinated. The name Park Seung-soo has spread throughout Europe amid the evaluation that "a talent that is uncommon even in Europe"."

Just in time, Park Seung-soo stepped on the K-League stage. Park Seung-soo, who became the youngest semi-professional player in K-League history at the age of 16 in 2023, began increasing his playing time in the summer of 2024. Park Seung-soo, who made his debut through Pohang and the Korea Cup in June, has since performed very well. He broke the youngest offensive point in the history of the Korea Cup, the youngest participation in the K League 2, and the youngest score ever in the K League. European teams constantly checked Park Seung-soo's appearance in the K League. There have been quite a few teams that have dispatched scouts themselves.

In 2025, when Park Seung-soo turned 18, full-fledged proposals poured in. The first team to offer was the Austrian master Salzburg. Salzburg, which has seen Park Seung-soo since 2024, was so active that it even sent scouts. Since then, Grashofer and Hoffenheim have sent offers. Southampton, who confirmed Park Seung-soo's talent early on, also made quite an active move. Valencia, Frankfurt, and Marseille also showed interest. If you add the team that showed unofficial interest, it was close to 10 teams.

The destination was compressed into Newcastle and Mitwillan. Suwon also allowed Park Seung-soo to go to Europe, and negotiations accelerated. Meat Willan, where Cho Kyu-sung and Lee Han-beom are playing, hit out. Mitwillan not only offered a high transfer fee, but also expressed his intention to use it in the first team immediately. He also pointed out that it is easy to adapt as a large number of Korean players are deployed. My heart was shaken by Mitwillan's aggressive move. A trip to Mitwill seemed likely.

But Park's final choice was Newcastle. I couldn't give up on advancing to the English Premier League (EPL), which was my dream. Park Seung-soo's agent, FS Corporation, confirmed his trip to Newcastle through careful negotiations. Park Seung-soo left for England on the night of the 18th, arrived in Newcastle, conducted medical tests, and signed immediately. He then started the schedule by watching Newcastle's preseason games.

Park Seung-soo started his first move as a Newcastle player through this Korean tour. Initially, Park Seung-soo was missing from the Asian tour list, but he was with him on the Korean tour. The NUFC feed, which mainly reports on Newcastle, said, `Park Seung-soo is missing from the first list, but he will come to Korea for the second consecutive tour of Korea.' `As you can see from Son Heung-min's heroic status in Tottenham, Newcastle cannot overlook this promotional opportunity.'

photo capture=Newcastle SNS

Coach Eddie Howe likes to give young players a chance in the pre-season, so if Park Seung-soo shows enough competitiveness in this visit to Korea, the timing of his debut in the first division could be even faster.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.