The first South Korean player to play for Paris Saint-Germain, Lee Kang-in tested his popularity on Thursday as his new club played (and won) a friendly in Busan against Jeonbuk Motors. This was the continuation of an incredible journey for a player plunged into the unknown at the age of ten at Valencia. With a thigh injury, the midfielder had not yet been able to play on PSG's Asian tour, but he was able to play for around 20 minutes in front of a sold-out crowd, helping Paris to a 3-0 victory (Neymar double and Asensio goal).

Given his shot by Marcelino

Lee Kang-in (22) has already shown that he has a mind of his own by choosing to stay at Valencia at the age of ten, after a successful scouting campaign. His parents and two older sisters gave up everything to follow the prodigy to Spain, even though not a single member of the family spoke a word of Castilian, according to Super Deporte, Valencia's daily sports newspaper. Lee Kang-in and another ten-year-old travelled to Valencia for a training camp in June 2011, hosted by youth coach Xavi Mocholí, now at La Masia - Barcelona's youth academy.

Once Lee arrived in Spain, the language barrier led to a misunderstanding, and the Korean found himself with the players born in 2000 - a year older than him. Among them was Ferran Torres, now a Spanish international. But Lee's physical commitment made light of the age difference, and with just a few touches of the ball, he had made Mocholi a believer.

However, it was illegal for the club to recruit a ten-year-old. After several meetings, the club explained to the parents that the only option was for the family to move to Europe. Lee's family took the gamble and landed in Puçol, in the Valencia region, to make the young boy's dream come true. A few years later, UEFA investigated the transfer and found nothing wrong with it, according to Super Deporte. Kang-in split his time between between Puçol secondary school, where he achieved a perfect record, and Paterna, the club's training centre, where he climbed the steps to the first team one by one.

"It was my dream, Valencia is practically my whole life," he said in July 2018 during a friendly against Lausanne, at the age of 17, when he became the first Asian player in the club's 100-year history to wear the club 's signature bat crest. It was the first time he had been called up by current OM coach Marcelino, whom he could meet again at PSG-OM on 24 September. Marcelino used him as a holding midfielder and more often as a No.10 in his 4-4-2 formation.

Reality TV and Park Ji-sung

Lee started out with the number 34, the number he wore in the South Korean reality show that brought him to prominence with his school team. The first prize was a visit with his mother to Manchester to shoot an advert with Korea's United legend Park Ji-sung. Like Park in the Premier League, Valencia were counting on Lee to tap into the Asian market, and PSG have the same idea.

"We never recruit for marketing reasons at PSG," Sébastien Wasels, the club's Asia-Pacific director, told AFP. "But on the other hand, once we have players, we try to capitalise on their presence to try and help us develop."

Boost

Lee, who racked up 110 La Liga appearances (nine goals) between Valencia and Mallorca, has signed a five-year contract in Paris.

"We're not asking the sports sector to buy a Korean player," revenue and marketing director Marc Armstrong told AFP, "but if it happens, it obviously has an impact. A few days after he signed, we had already sold thousands of Lee Kang-in shirts."

Co-assist leader at the 2019 U20 World Cup with the young Taeguk Warriors, Lee, who scored from a penalty in the final but was beaten 3-1 by Ukraine, is a star in the Land of the Morning Calm. He now has 14 senior caps to his name, including all four of South Korea's matches at the 2022 World Cup.

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(Photo: PSG)