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| Son Heung-min greets fans at the match between Tottenham and Newcastle at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 3rd. Sangam = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.03/ |
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| Hwang Hee-chan played as a substitute before the opening game. AP Yonhap News |
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The status of Korean players in the world's best league English Premier League (EPL) has decreased beyond recognition. This is the aftermath of the transfer of Son Heung-min (LAFC), who has been the face of Korean soccer for 10 years.
Twenty EPL teams, who woke up from their long summer sleep, held the opening game of the 2025-2026 season from the 16th to the 19th (Korea time). Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) succeeded the Korean Premier League, which started with Park Ji-sung. In a first-round home game against Manchester City at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton on the 17th, he replaced Strand Larsen in the 37th minute of the second half and played for eight minutes.
The result was bleak. He dedicated relay goals to Elling Holan in the 34th minute of the first half, Tijani Rheinders in the 37th minute, Holan in the 16th minute of the second half, and Rayan Sherki in the 36th minute of the second half against Manchester City, who are trying to win again after overcoming their slump in the 2024-2025 season. Hwang Hee-chan was put in at a time of heavy defeat, and the game ended with Wolverhampton's 0-4 crushing defeat.
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| ReutersYonhap News |
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'8 min' refers to the current status of the Korean Premier Leaguer. It is the lowest playing time since the opening game of the 2019-2020 season, when Son Heung-min was absent due to disciplinary action. Son Heung-min, who played as the best star of the EPL for Tottenham for 10 years from 2015 to this year, advanced to the U.S. Professional Football (MLS), and as Tottenham's Yang Min-hyuk (Portsmouth) and Brighton (Excelcior) Yoon Do-young and Brentford's Kim Ji-soo (Kaiser Schlautern) left the loan side by side, Hwang Hee-chan is guarding the EPL alone. Park Seung-soo (Newcastle), who was surprisingly included in the replacement list against Aston Villa in the opening game, is coldly difficult to regard as a first-team regular yet. Immediately after the opening match, Newcastle acquired Aston Villa's offensive midfielder and winger Jacob Ramsey for a transfer fee of 75 billion won. Park Seung-soo is likely to go down to the 21-year-old team due to the addition of Ramsey, who was able to enter the entry thanks to the absence of striker Alexander Isaac and the injury of midfielder Joe Willock.
Neither Hwang Hee-chan nor Wolverhampton's starting member. Wolverhampton manager Vitor Pereira took Hwang Hee-chan down to the bench after taking the helm of Wolverhampton during the second half of last season. In an interview with local media, he even sent a message saying, `Find a place to run and leave.' And again, Hwang Hee-chan was used as a supporting actor in the season opener.
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| 미토마 가오루. REUTERS Yonhap News |
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| 다나카 아오. REUTERS Yonhap News |
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In the same opening game, three Japanese Premier Leaguers played their first game. Japan's national team captain and defensive midfielder Endo Wataru (Liverpool) replaced Jeremy Frimpong in the 15th minute of the second half against Bournemouth and played on the ground for 30 minutes to support a 4-2 victory. Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton) started on the left wing in the match against Fulham (1-1 draw) and played 83 minutes until he was replaced in the 38th minute of the second half. The new season is also a solid starting player.
Another midfielder, Tanaka Ao (Liz), made his EPL debut. Tanaka, who started as a central midfielder at home against Everton on the 20th, showed off his explosive energy until he was replaced in the fourth minute of extra time in the second half, supporting his team's 1-0 victory. The British daily 『Guardian" praised "the most noticeable of the day" while another media 'Babel" scored 10 out of 10.
It was Park Ji-sung's debut in the EPL. Park Ji-sung made a surprise start against Everton in August 2005 wearing a Manchester United uniform and imprinted the name Park Ji-sung on EPL soccer fans with 83 minutes of 'oxygen tank'like activity. Tanaka, who played only the second part of Germany and the second part of England for Fortuna Düsseldorf and Leeds after advancing to the European stage in 2021, proved that he had the ability to work in the EPL as the 16th Japanese Premier Leaguer.
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| Compared the opening game time of the Korea-Japan EPL after 2020. (Unit) |
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Japan added Endo, Mitoma, and Tanaka's playing time for a total of 203 minutes. It is difficult to compare with the 8 minutes, which is the opening game time of the Korean Premier Leaguer. The tide has turned from the 2023-2024 season. At that time, South Korean players played 102 minutes and Japanese players played 130 minutes in the opening game of the EPL. In the 2024-2025 season, Korea played 180 minutes and Japan played 189 minutes. When South Korea relies only on Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan duo, Japan's Premier League increased one by one. This season, Japan has five and Korea has two.
If Japanese national midfielder Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace), who missed the opening game due to a knee injury, returns and Japanese sacred defender Kota Takai (Tottenham) makes his debut after shaking off his injury, there is a strong possibility that the gap will widen in the future. The number of EPL players is also different. As local rumors say, if Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) does not join Palace or Arsenal for the rest of the transfer market, Hwang Hee-chan should earn a lonely 'Korea-Japan match'. Hwang Hee-chan is also embroiled in rumors of a Palace lease.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
