da bet7k： Ki Sung-Yueng is ready for the big time. He stood out in a poor Sunderland side last season and this year excelled as the driving force in Swansea’s midfield.
da betsson： His intrinsic influence on the Welsh outfit claiming their highest ever final standing and highest ever points total in the Premier League has gone largely unnoticed. He even missed out on the club’s Player of the Year award, which went to summer signing Lukasz Fabianski. The South Korean tends to have that almost subliminal Michael-Carrick-esque effect.
But finally some tabloid appreciation arrived last week in the form of rumoured interest from Arsenal – who are reportedly plotting a £15million bid.
At 26 years of age, with 74 caps for South Korea and just a handful shy of a centenary of Premier League appearances, I have no doubt this summer is the ideal time for Ki to make the jump to a top English club. But Arsenal? Are they the right side for him?
The midfielder’s defining gift is his intelligence and quality on the ball. He’s Swansea’s metronome at the base of midfield, conducting the direction, pace and flow of their build-up play – resulting in a pass completion rate of 89.8% this season, the sixth-best return of any Premier League player.
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Yet Ki’s also blessed with the ability to make surging runs from deep at the pinnacle moment, timed so perfectly he’s scored the most Premier League goals of any Swansea player this season with eight – barring now-Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony with nine – and the third-most of any centre-mid in the top flight, after Steven Gerrard and Yaya Toure. It’s yet another testament to his incredible reading of the game, alongside the impressive average of 1.8 interceptions per match.
In theory, that should make him perfect for Arsenal; a side fused together by the principles of tiki-taka that like to score goals from all departments – including holding midfield. I have no doubt he’ll be able to maintain the pace and quality of their technically-demanding build-up play and quickly settle in a midfield surrounded by like-minded playmakers.
But too many cooks spoil the broth, and as I’ve just alluded to Arsenal’s kitchen is already filled to the brim. So full, in fact, they have No.10s playing in right midfield (Aaron Ramsey), central midfield (Santi Cazorla), and attacking midfield (Mesut Ozil), with a few more (usually Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky) warming up the bench. Even the Gunners’ latest revelation Francis Coquelin began his Arsenal career in more advanced capacities before succumbing to the holding midfield needs of the first team squad.
Ki isn’t a No.10. He’s more of a deep-lying influence like Andrea Pirlo or Michael Carrick. But Manchester United and Juventus protect their anchoring playmakers with physical and feisty midfielders – Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal being fantastic examples, along with the lanky Marouane Fellaini and the nippy Ander Herrera. The same can be said for Swansea, who deploy Jack Cork and Jonjo Shelvey in a tight-knit midfield. But the South Korean wouldn’t necessarily have that luxury at the Emirates. In fact, he’d be doing much of the protecting for others.
And that sums up perhaps my biggest concern regarding Ki Sung-Yueng; that he’ll be asked to perform a service which doesn’t come naturally to him, and he’d resultantly become misinterpreted by the Arsenal fan-base. They’re expecting a powerful, athletic addition to their engine-room this summer – Morgan Schneiderlin, William Carvalho and Moussa Sissoko being amongst the more common names mooted in the tabloids. Measuring in at 6 foot 2, Ki may give that illusion, but he’s not a physical presence of the same variety – the kind of player who could go shoulder-to-shoulder with Nemanja Matic or Yaya Toure twice a season.
In a nutshell, Ki represents something Arsenal already have, but this summer they should be looking for variety in the transfer market more than ever – the kind of players who help grind out wins when backs are to the wall. The 26 year-old isn’t famed for his fighting spirit and with good reason; he’s a more sophisticated presence than that.
In my opinion, it’s a transfer that would serve both parties poorly; Arsenal, still lacking the brawn their engine room craves, Ki, unable to stand out in a side blessed with like-minded talents. The South Korea international is more than ready for the next level – but Arsenal suit him ‘almost too well’, to paraphrase Andy Townsend, for this deal to prove successful.
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