Lingard (FC Seoul) seems to have been a little careless about the K-League stage in the early days of his transfer.
Lingard attracted a lot of fans’ attention by “surprise transfer” to the K League this season.
He is a former Manchester United youth player in the Premier League and has played many games in the first team, and has played in the best stages so far, including West Ham United and Nottingham Forest.
In addition, in 2018, when he had the best stock price, he joined the England national team for the World Cup in Russia and played a leading role in the semifinals.
The best player joined, but he was not worried. After leaving Nottingham last year, he managed his condition through personal training alone for a long time without his team. More than 10 months have followed concerns about his performance since he was put into the official game.
Lingard made his debut from the opening game of the K-League, but was out after three games due to knee injury. He underwent rehabilitation after treatment, and returned after about a month and a half to fully adapt.
Lingard quickly became the core of the team and was appointed as a second-line central attacking midfielder under Kim Ki-dong, revitalizing the attack through witty play and selfless appearance.
Now he is even playing the role of the team’s “captain.” Captain Ki Sung-yueng has been showing leadership by wearing the armband since the match against Ulsan HD in June, while captain Ki Sung-yueng left due to injury.
Among them, he scored his debut goal against Gangwon FC in June and has scored five goals and one assist in 21 games so far.
The reason Lingard is loved the most above all is that he shows his “sincere” heart. At the time of the transfer, there were doubts that he was heading to the Asian stage to expand his personal clothing brand and business, but Lingard is focusing only on soccer and the Seoul club after the transfer.
Both club officials and soccer officials are saying that Lingard is doing his best while sincerely enjoying his life in Seoul.
Coach Kim Ki-dong also praised Lingard’s appearance. Ahead of Hana Bank’s K League 1 2024 Final Round Media Day main event held at Nuri Dream Square in Sangam-dong, Seoul on the 16th, he said, “The players feel a lot. Lingard and Ilyuchenko are all Koreans now. Both of them are leading the team a lot. With (Ki) Sung-yong out, the two players are leading a lot of the mental part of the players.”
What would Lingard think? “To be honest, I didn’t think it would be this hard. I think he felt that he could take it easy. However, the coach left a comment that he pointed out in an official interview at the beginning of the season, and I think it was an opportunity for him to come to his senses by saying that he should sincerely show what it is like to work hard because he was so angry,” Lingard said.
“From then on, I think I tried my best to prepare hard for every game and every training session, with the mindset that I should not deceive myself more. As a result, I think I naturally improved my performance,” he added.
Seoul and Lingard are now heading to the final round. Seoul is ranked fifth with 14 wins, eight draws and 11 losses (50 points). It is two points behind the Pohang Steelers (52 points) who finished the match earlier.
If three points are added in the first round of the final round against Gangwon (55 points) on the 20th, it can beat Pohang to rank fourth and close the gap with Gangwon at the same time.
Seoul has shown strong performance against Gangwon. It has four wins and two draws in six recent matches, and two wins and one draw in three face-to-face encounters this season. 스포츠토토
The match between Seoul and Gangwon will be held at Gangneung Stadium at 3 p.m. on the 20th.
