PLAYER PROFILE

Ji-Sung Park

Position: Midfield

Height: 5'10

Weight: 11st 0lbs

Date of Birth: 1981-02-25 Seoul, South Korea

Ji-Sung Park

On his arrival at Manchester United in July 2004, Ji-Sung Park became the first ever South Korean player to play in the Premiership.

A £4 million signing from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, Park was initially denied a work permit but his appeal was successful and he made the move to Old Trafford in time for the 2004-2005 pre-season.

Starting his career at Japanese J-League side Kyoto Purple Sanga in 2000, he was initially used as a defensive midfielder but was converted to a winger by South Korean national team boss Guus Hiddink.

His energetic style of play and good work ethic won a host of admirers as he played an important role in South Korea's fourth-place finish at the 2002 World Cup. During the tournament, which the Koreans co-hosted with Japan, Park started in every game and scored the winning goal in the 1-0 win over Portugal in the group stage.

After the World Cup, Hiddink returned to Holland to takeover as boss of PSV Eindhoven and a year later brought Park with him. After a difficult start at the club, he went on to became a popular player at the Dutch side and scored the first goal in the club's 3-1 first-leg victory over AC Milan in the Champions League.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had been keeping a close eye on Park's performances towards the end of the 2004-2005 season and during the following pre-season had a bid accepted for the winger.

After overcoming the work-permit problems, Park made his debut for the club as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 Champions League qualifier win over Debreceni VSC. He then started in United's opening day 2-0 victory over Everton at Goodison Park and was a regular in the side through the season.

One criticism of Park's play was his lack of composure in front of goal. He finally found the net for Manchester United for the first time in the 3-1 win over Birmingham in the League Cup but his next goal would prove more important, the second in a 2-0 win over rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford in April.

His first season with the club resulted in a Carling Cup winners medal and he was again called up to South Korea's World Cup squad for Germany 2006. Despite being one of his country's most impressive performers, scoring as they drew 1-1 with eventual finalists France, he couldn't stop them from going out in the group stages.

Park's chances were rather limited in 2006/07 both by the form of Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs but also a series of niggling injuries. When he did get on the pitch, he was impressive and scored five times in 12 appearances, but a bad knee injury towards the end of the campaign ruled him out for a long time.