Ju-Young Park is alive.
Reports circulated last month that the South Korean had gone AWOL having been shamed by the collective tut tutting of his compatriots who’d vented their annoyance at his decision to delay his military service. Thankfully, he’s alright.
In a bid to clear the air, and save his international career, the 26-year-old ‘footballer’ has held a press conference to explain his decision and stressed he’s still committed to fulfilling his national duty.
Since moving to Arsenal last August Park has not only been stripped of his country’s captaincy, but also been dropped from the international scene, despite being a talismanic presence this time last year.
Speaking to journalists in his homeland, after pressure from national team coach Choi Kang-Lee, Park explained:
“I understand there was a massive controversy since I have postponed my military service. I first want to apologise to all the people who have felt left down by me.
“When I played for AS Monaco I was able to learn a lot of new things about football. I wanted to stay in Europe further to learn more so I decided to postpone my service.
“I have no intention to leave Korea nor evade the military service. I have already written a pledge that I will fulfill my duties with the Military Manpower Administration.
“I have already promised several times that I will carry out my national service, and I really will.
“I want to apologise to all the armymen who are serving the nation at this moment.”
It’s fair to say that Park sounds very sorry. He’s now aiming to be included in South Korea’s Olympic squad meaning he may well have a chance to shine in London after all.
While it is fully expected that Park will leave the Emirates this summer, there has been, somewhat surprisingly, a complete lack of speculation linking him with other clubs. Perhaps a decent showing in the coming months might persuade someone to take a punt on him.
Really have to feel sorry for the guy. Can’t help but feel if we didn’t hijack his proposed transfer deal he would have, at least, played some football.
Wish him the best of luck.
I blame RVP for not picking up any injury last season. I kid
I would feel more sorry for him if he didn’t get paid about 30-50 GRAND a week. He also gets front-row seats at every Arsenal game and gets to play/ interact with all the players.
The fact that he probably interacted with Pires and Henry when they came to train with us is pushing my pity into sheer envy.
On footballing terms though, yeah poor guy.
Hijack a guys supposed transfer, promise him game time, leave him to rot on the bench. Classic arsenal stuff.
Now let’s move on to giroud and do the same.
What you didnt think that was “Classy”.
How dare you. We had marble hall and flowers you know….
were you there to know they promised him football ? maybe he knows he was Plan Z ,I haven’t heard him complain.
And it’s not Classic Arsenal stuff , At Arsenal we don’t buy superstars we buy shit players and play them al the time…..we also make superstars
It’s not like he was forced to sign for arsenal, you do realize that right?
I love your work and all that you do for the Arsenal blogger, but you have always been quite harsh on Park. Yes, he hasn’t played and that means Wenger clearly doesn’t think he’s good enough to make the squad. Regardless, he’s done well for the reserves, and I can’t help but feel that there is more to the story that what we’ve been told. Why he wouldn’t get a handful of apperances despite his good Reserves form, even when we are beating a 10 man Blackburn 5-1, is beyond me. There is more to this that we haven’t been… Read more »
I don’t think we (as a site) have been especially harsh on Park. We’ve always tried to understand what went on, and there’s clearly more to the story than we know.
However, when your club needs a striker then signs a guy who doesn’t play all season (bar a few minutes here and there), I don’t think it’s harsh to suggest that it wasn’t a good signing.
You’re back ey?. Heard you were sipping mojitos in a country that is ofcourse not england. Good to have you back, now you can proceed to post news so that I can laugh hysterically every morning.
You are right Arseblog, there is definitely more to this chaps transfer, I feel sorry for him, but we need to get rid of him, especially with the 25 man a team policy for the league next season. We need quality and not just mediocre players ready to warm the bench.
It seems you’re implying J.Y. Park is a mediocre player? He’s not a world class, but he’s definitely above average.
I have to agree with Dev on this one. Provided I’ve never believed J.Y. Park was an “Arsenal’s full-time starting player” material, I’ve felt your writings on Park have always been harsher than warranted. Regardless of how delicate and subtle such harshness might have been, it’s always been in your tone and constructs of your words. (Perhaps deep inside you have a certain personal bias, but I can only speculate in that regard.)
That being said, yeah, this was one of the most bizarre transfers in the history of Arsenal and put a lot of Gooners in dark.
Who knows? May be his lack of game time was because of some weird clauses in his contract or something.
Perhaps this year he’ll start all our Carling Cup games and lead us on a victorious charge, leaving Persie, Poldi and Giroud to sort out the CL, FA Cup and BPL.
More realistically, he’ll probably be packed off to Ligue 1.
This has to be one of the strangest transfers ever. Quite agree with those saying there’s obviously more to this one than we’re hearing about, its just too bizarre to sign a guy then completely refuse to play him like that even when he’s done well in the reserves.
Will have to go a long way to be Danilevicius, but yeh. Fucking weird.
I wish him luck whatever happens, and hope he comes back from his military duty he starts in ten years in one piece. What a load of bollocks that truly is.
*to beat Danilevicius.
What’s going on with me today?
For a club that prides itself on doing things the right way and having an element of class behind all that it does, we really should be ashamed of what we’ve done to this guys career.
But we’d have been up in arms if wenger hadn’t signed another striker, RVP had picked up an injury and we were left with an out of form chamack as our strike force. It was for the greater good
We would have played without a striker earlier than starting Park in the league.
I would think the entire military service saga would be to play for Arsenal. Who would go through all that trouble and controversy for, say, Totterham?
Feel really sorry for Park, he was a really good player (on Asian Level) before he came to Arsenal, his stats shows just that when he’s in Monaco. I’d like to believe what Dev said, that there’s something more to this than what we were told. But nevertheless i hope to see him given another chance at Arsenal, i mean if Sir Alex can gave that to Park Ji Sung, why not Arsene? after all there were rumors that Man Utd were interested in him before he went to Monaco and he’s the one who replace Park Ji Sung as… Read more »
Maybe he will go on to score a league goal at another club…
Wheres our apology?
Our apology? For what? Scoring a good goal in the only game he was given enough time in and then having to watch from the bench as the best striker in the league hit goal after goal and stayed fit all season, keeping him out of the team. Yeh, he should be so sorry…
when park has played he’s looked like a rabbit in the headlights, he just didn’t seem to cope. its unfortunate that his stay with us has been less than good, and he’s got pressure sores from the bench, but can you imagine the furore from the “arsene out” boys if he was played despite his poor form? the shirt seller stuff is already wheeled out regularly, it would be a full on conspiracy had he been included. if we do sign Giroud, im sure it wont be to “ruin” his career. the last couple of seasons have shown we lacked… Read more »
Coming from the Ligue 1 to the English league is a big step up for any player (as I’m sure Giroud would soon find out). Even Chamack struggled (and still is), the only reason he wasn’t criticized like Park is because he was able to win us some crucial penalties and score a couple of good headers in the first 6 months. I for one would love to hear why Park hasn’t been given his chance to shine. We hijacked his deal, had him postpone his military duty and forced him to rot on the bench. Hopefully, Arsene will provide… Read more »
Yes – but worse off he barely even featured on the bench. I was quite excited about him early on and we heard for a while he was ‘adjusting’. The only thing he ever adjusted to was playing the invisible man.
There’s definitely a lot more to the story than we’ve heard.
Historical revisionism. He was OK in his appearances and he scored for us. I don’t know what has happened with him, but I feel sad for him, and sad for us as fans as well, that we didn’t get to see more of him. Would like to know what has blighted his Arsenal career so far, but not holding out hope that it will ever be explained.
I live in a country with compulsory national service for all guys and I must its the most stupid idea ever. I wish Asian countries would be rid of this stupid nationalistic schemes so that we can allow talents like Park to have a more successful career. I’m pretty sure Arsene bought him thinking he’s a younger ”34 year old”, since he was supposed to retire in 2 years for the army. He was always going to be a back up, and you can’t blame Wenger for playing guys like the Ox who he wants to develop, rather than Park… Read more »
I hope we can sell him or include him in a cash offer to another club for a player we’re buying. I’m still scratching my head as to why we signed him up and he hasn’t seen any playing time but there are truths out there we will never know. I mean, if we were gonna have a striker not play at all why not just keep NB52 on the bench and not pay for another player. Maybe he just couldn’t cope with the pressure of the EPL. Either way I think he needs to go to a French club,… Read more »
He’d have to have played in the PL and failed badly on multiple occasions for us to have decided he couldn’t handle the pressure of the PL. I don’t believe that for a moment.
National Captains handle pressure. It’s part of the job requirement.
Whatever happened, I see no reason to lay the blame at his door with no evidence whatsoever.
It’s pretty sad, however I liked him more than Chamakah. When Chamkah and Park came on in games they always seemed to repeatedly lose the ball and I even saw both of them ruin two separate buildups before. I dont know if its the lack of playing time or class but, id like to see them leave to continue their careers and be able to play, and for us to sign some better talent. I dont feel TOO bad though, I mean theyre fucking wealthy off us.
I feel sorry for him. I think he would have been playing regular ligue 1 football if he stayed in France.
We were classless by hijacking the Lille move and the gamble never even paid off.
Does the press ask Wenger any questions about Park’s “adaption period”?
he should of put him on the left wing instead of benayoun nd put benayoun in ramsey position
Wenger always says it takes a full year to transition to the English style of play, especially for Ligue 1 players. Nasri took a while. So did Kos.
I’m counting on it for Gervinho, I expect much more from him this year.
Hopefully Park can build up his confidence in the Carling Cup and be a useful member of the squad too. The one goal he did score was a great one.
Wenger’s so wicked leaving me on the bench everytime even when Robin was tired., av done nothing wrong!! ¤dries eyes¤
I find it pretty sad that people in their prime have to quit doing what they love for serving in the fucking Military.
Sell him to 5pur2s !
Im trying to.rack my brains for a striker that has come to england directly from ligue 1 and been a smash hit. in fact i would say that with 10 goals in 20 matches chamakh made the biggest impression……..until rvp returned from the treatment room.
Sorry to mention the name on this forum but, Drogba?
I thought we only signed him to sell shirts in Asia
Hopefully Poldi will impress on the training ground and get a lot of game time. He’s class
Arsenal is very unfair with Park ……….if some poor performer like Ramsey earned playing time, then Park deserves playing for 90 minutes in every game and the guy is not allowed to contribute what he is got “at all”……………………..Park got quality in the area or Shooting and scoring from far range which “to me” Arsene Wenger is never considering that as the missing link in Arsenal’s passing game which always look forward to entering opponent box 18 before making any attempt on goal