What? Any articles for the proof? He rejected his move to AS Roma for 'personal reasons', I wonder what makes him want to move to Middle-East.
^ Actually, some unforeseen circumstances today have put ALL of the club's new signings (including the new coach) on hold (a big conflict with the club's sponsors, basically). However, I can tell you with certainty that the player did agree to terms with the club. I can understand your skepticism about it, of course, and I suppose I can't offer any concrete "proof." But the news was reported yesterday by a club insider who nearly ALWAYS reports new signings accurately, and the rumors have been appearing in Saudi newspapers for days. In case anyone's interested, the deal was for 1 million euros for one year, with an option to extend for another year for a further 1 million euros (the player was demanding 1.8 million per year, but he eventually came 'round). It's not clear to me whether it's a loan or an outright purchase, but I'm leaning towards the latter. But, as I said, with the new bombshell regarding the club's sponsor today, I think this signing (and all other new signings this season) are on hold until it's resolved.
I mean no offense but I can't bear to see Lee Young Pyo rot in Saudi doing nothing with a whole load of players without faces in the prospect of the world. What the hell happened with Dortmund? First Seol Ki Hyeon (who is back with Fulham, thankfully), Lee Chun Soo (the liar), and now Lee Young Pyo, one of the players I respect the most. I mean, as much as any other Saudi Arabian wishes it, the basic facts are that to me, the Saudi League just sucks. Feel free to prove me wrong, as I've never watched a match of it (not like I can).
He's already 32, so I don't think he would be "rotting" in any league he plays in at this point. There are younger, more famous players in the Hilal squad than LYP (with all due respect), especially Thiago Neves, Christian Wilhelmsson, and Mirel Radoi. By the way, many foreign players join European clubs after playing in the Saudi league. Salaheddine Bassir of Morocco (who was great in WC '98) was sold by Al-Hilal to Deportivo in '97, Saiid Chiba played for Al-Hilal in the 90's then joined Tenerife. KIM (a Brazilian player) left Al-Ahli a few years go for AS Nancy. Al-Hassane Keita is playing for Mallorca right now and recently scored against Real Madrid -- until about a year ago he was playing with Al-Ittihad. Just a few weeks ago, a young Ghanaian international (Prince Tagoe) left Ettifaq for Hoffenheim. There are several other Brazilian and African players who went to Europe after playing in the Saudi league. So, if a player is good and has a future, he WILL be noticed in the Saudi league. But at LYP's age, I think he's just looking for a last payout before he retires, which is why I'm not feeling good about the signing (even though I know that he is an outstanding player). The only thing that might bode well for us is he might still want to stay in the picture for Korea's WC squad. FYI Al-Hilal had an option to keep Seol for another year. The reason he's back at Fulham is because Al-Hilal declined to exercise it. The reason the club decided to decline the option was because the fans almost unanimously demanded that he be replaced. Seol has a very respectable history, and you can tell by watching him that he was once an excellent player, but when he came to us he was already a washed-up, has-been, and was desperate for some playing time. After the season ended he admitted that the level was higher than he thought it would be, but that playing in KSA helped him improve his "conditioning." After his first few games he was relegated to the bench and was only brought back into the team after a coaching change. After that we could really tell that he wanted to do something on the pitch (especially in the last few games), but he only really shined in two or three games in the Champions League, and the rest he spent sending balls into orbit. It got so bad at times, that in the league decider against Ittihad (which we lost 2-1), Ittihad didn't even bother to mark him. Well it is a weak league compared to any top or mid-level European league, that's for sure. It's comparable to the K-league, and probably a shade lower than the J-League (though it's hard to tell since Saudi and Japanese clubs haven't faced each other in 8 years), but that doesn't mean LYP and that other player who's going to Al-Nasr are too good to play in it (If we were talking about some of the top Korean stars in their primes, then yes ... but these two guys? I don't think so.)
Lee Young Pyo is diving bible thumping scum. Send him off to habibiland. He'll fit right in with all the other sand rolling sallies.
Well put. Well, you've dispelled some of my doubts of Lee Young Pyo becoming completely mediocre though if he is there for money, lets hope he actually works for his money.
Sayf, With all due respect, Lee YP's transfer news is not believable in many ways. 1. The news only came from the Saudi press. When a player is negotiating terms with the club, it gets leaked out to the press so easily. However, for LYP's case, there's nothing reported in the Korean press. 2. Lee YP's a faithful Christian. He always goes to the church every sundays. Out of all places in the world, I really can't imagine him fitting in Saudi Arabia for that reason alone. 3. Lee YP's case is way different to Lee CS's. Lee CS desperately wants money as some reports say he's currently struggling in terms of finance. But Lee YP? Nope, $1 million Euro doesn't cut it for him as he's getting paid much more than that at Dortmund. (When he was at Tottenham, his salary was Top 5 out of Tottenham's whole squad even though he was a left fullback) 4. I think it's nothing more than a media stunt played by Al Hiral. They already got some really quality foreign players and they also have one more spot available in which they can bring in a top Asian player due to the 3+1 rule. The club knows that by giving the news about a well-known Asian player signing will give a good publicity in Europe as well as in Asia. And in Europe, there are only a few Asians who fit in that category (well-known, age should be plausible enough, has good experiences in Europe)- Nakamura (He's already going to Espanyol) and Lee YP (He's currently fighting his position with Dede)
Well, were the negotiations with Seol leaked to the Korean press? I first started hearing about negotiations with Seol many weeks before it appeared in the foreign press. Christian Wilhelmsson's signing was never leaked to the press. The negotiations with Thiago Neves and Eric Gerets appeared in Hilali webforums many weeks before the foreign press picked up on them. You have a good point there. I was skeptical about the rumors for that reason as well. That's why I only posted it after I saw the news posted by a source that I trust, even though LYP's name has been floating around in Arabic webforums for weeks. Trust me, the negotiations have taken place, and they are serious. Maybe he announced the final striking of the deal prematurely, but the negotiations are true. The club will probably make an official announcement when the sponsorship issue is resolved. Well, the club haven't officially announced anything. Well, you need to take into account that in Saudi Arabia the 1m euros will be tax free. There could also be undisclosed bonuses, or it's possible that one of the club's donors will contribute the other 800k that he was asking for. It's true that Al-Hilal's current management does want to raise the profile of the club abroad. However, they don't really need LYP for that (LYP will not get nearly as much attention as Eric Gerets did, for example). They have no reason to pretend to be talking to him when they really aren't.
arguments from silence are not very strong arguments. so many deals in lesser leagues can happen without the press finding out. maybe Lee and his agent have learned from the Roma experience to keep silent until lee's sure. but if you need a press story to serve as "confirmation", then here is one. seeing as eric gerets is a former manager of PSV, it is quite a good possibility. by your line of reasoning, it would be difficult to imagine why any christians would want to go to saudi arabia, but in fact there are probably hundreds of thousands of them there. and i'm sure there are communities of christians as well. during his first year at dortmund, lee was making 500,000 euro, if i recall correctly. i don't know what he was offered for his one-year extension (this article speculates that it was under one million euro), but i don't think it was more than double that. so moving to al-hilal is almost certainly a better deal for him financially, especially if it is tax-free. i doubt lee can find much better offers now, since he seemed to have a hard time making the squad after his red card suspension, and since they started playing dede on the left and owomoyela on the right. besides his salary at tottenham is largely irrelevant, because he's no longer 27. i don't think clubs are very interested in spreading rumors of 30-plus defenders who have largely been forgotten in the world game.
Although it was never disclosed properly why LYP suddenly pulling out of going to Roma, one important factor that was speculated was that Italy is a Catholic country while LYP is Protestant (I read that other reasons included wanting to remain in England to get a green card etc.). Granted, I thought this was a poor reason because they're both Christian denominations, Italy guarantees freedom of religion and there are Korean protestant churches in Rome. However, Saudi Arabia is a totally different environment in terms of religion. Freedom of religion isn't part of their constitution and the country runs on Islamic law. If it's true that religion was a factor that was against LYP going to Rome, I can't imagine that Saudi Arabia would be any easier or better(from LYP's perspective) in that regard. In fact Saudi Arabia would be one of the worst countries to go to for LYP for religious factors.
What frustrates me is, why can't somewhat established (if there is any aside from PJS) European-based players come play for K-League? Are they too proud to play in K-League? Why does K-League always have to accept stragglers and drop-outs who failed abroad? (Lee Chun-soo, Ahn Jung-hwan, Kim Namil, Song Chung-guk, Lee Ho, Lee Dong-guk, etc.) I would love to see Park Ji-sung play in K-League (Suwon) some day...
Two korean scorers in Chinese Super League today. FT Dalian Haichang [2 - 0] Qingdao Jonoon 30' M. Socanac 69' [1 - 0] A. Jung-Hwan 76' [2 - 0] Y. Lin FT Changsha Ginde [1 - 0] Shanghai Shenhua 56' [1 - 0] K. Eun-Jung
I would have loved to see Henrik at Suwon, giving Henrik as an example, I meant Korean players abroad.
Yeah Henrik is still a great motherfkcing player. How muhdo you think Suwon could've payed him a month.
Dangit... its going to be hard to keep track of LYP playing in SA. As a fan I would prefer for him to stay at BVB so I can at least catch him in action once in a while on GolTV.
I don't really know much about the Korean league, but I think it's more an issue of the Saudi league being particularly flush with cash this year than any issue with the K-league. I don't think we could have seen these kinds of singings 2 or 3 years ago (except by Ittihad).
So is the move to Eindhoven finalized? Babelfish doesn't seem to be working. Will Sex Dragon be a starter there?