Twenty years since Park signed

Twenty years since Park signed

In hindsight, it seems ridiculous that Sir Alex Ferguson was questioned as to the motives behind signing Ji-sung Park, 20 years ago today (24 June).

The South Korea international had proved his pedigree with some stellar work in the Champions League for PSV Eindhoven and at the 2002 World Cup, yet there were suspicions in some quarters that there was a commercial element to the Reds buying one of Asia’s up-and-coming stars.

The summer tour of the eastern part of that continent perhaps supported the idea enough to prompt a question to the new £4 million signing about rivalling Real Madrid’s David Beckham for shirt sales.

“Maybe if I were as handsome as David Beckham is, I would get mobbed like he does, every time I went out,” he joked.

All The Goals Ji-sung Park Video

All The Goals Ji-sung Park

All The Goals | It’s Ji-sung Park’s birthday! He scored 27 times in total for United – watch them all here…

Park scored during that first tour, against Beijing Hyundai and would go on to become one of the most appreciated cogs in Sir Alex’s winning machine.

Adored by his coaches, colleagues and fans alike, he was the consummate professional who would always put the team above himself. 

The bare facts of winning four Premier League titles in five seasons only go some of the way to explaining his influence and output. 

Park was a shy superstar who shunned the limelight but was idolised back home as Asia’s finest contribution to the English top-flight. There are so many highlights that illuminate his spell at Old Trafford, from man-marking Andrea Pirlo to shining in the 2009 Champions League semi-final at Arsenal, but it was a year earlier when Ferguson made one of the toughest calls of his entire managerial career.

Sir Alex was never afraid to make such decisions but it must have broken his heart to leave such a dependable foot-soldier out of the matchday squad for the glorious 2008 Champions League triumph over Chelsea in Moscow. Even, years later, the Scot admitted to MUTV how it was something that still weighed heavily on him.

“It was a really great bunch of players with a great attitude about them and a good, strong squad, he told us.

“My problem in the 2008 final, maybe I even regret it to this day, was I left Ji-sung Park out completely in the final.

“He’d played such a great role and that’s the problem when you get to these finals. No player deserves to be left out of the final.”

Ji-sung Park relays the pain of missing out on the 2008 Champions League final.

It would be wrong to think Park just accepted this gut-wrenching moment and took it in his stride.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he later told UTD Podcast. “I realised, when I got to the stadium, into the dressing room, I saw that there wasn’t my shirt. Then I just go ‘oh, I’m not in the squad today’. I don’t know how I can say it, I was very, very disappointed. All my family was there, my whole country was looking for that because I played the semi-final. They were expecting that I would play the final, even probably on the bench. But I wasn’t in the squad.

“There is no choice as a player if you’re not involved in the squad. It’s the manager’s decision and you have to follow it. He explained he was going to play Owen Hargreaves because he had the experience of the final of the Champions League. I was thinking ‘I won’t have it, if I don’t get it’ But it’s his decision. I can’t complain about that and then, actually, we won the Champions League. So his decision is right.”

Despite his hurt, Park never let it affect his relationship with the manager as he continued to be a key figure for the Reds. There was inevitable sadness when he was transferred to QPR in 2012 but the South Korean has remained hugely popular with our fans.

When it comes down to selfless character and unsung heroes, there are few ahead of Ji in the club’s history.

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