Park Seung-soo is one of the reasons why Newcastle United fans can take at least some positivity into the new season.
While expecting too much too soon from Seung-soo feels unwise, the South Korean forward has been a rare bright spot during an otherwise difficult pre-season for Newcastle United.
The 18-year-old was signed from Suwon Bluewings earlier this summer and has since made three appearances. He impressed against both Team K-League and Tottenham during the pre-season tour of Asia, before making his debut at St James’ Park on Friday night.
Seung-soo played well against Espanyol as Newcastle were held to a 2-2 draw against the Spanish side.
Such is the level of excitement about the talented teenager, Bruno Guimaraes responded positively.
Bruno Guimaraes sends message to Park Seung-soo after home debut
On Saturday, Seung-soo took to social media platform Instagram.
He captioned a collage of himself in action: “My first debut at SJP.”
Team captain Guimaraes responded with: “Keep going my friend.”
A number of other players in the Newcastle United squad left further messages of support.
Park Seung-soo stats for Newcastle United vs Espanyol
Clearly, it would be unwise to read too much into pre-season performances. Life in the Premier League is entirely different and expecting Seung-soo to make an immediate step up would be foolish.
Still, he has now impressed in three separate games against different levels of opposition.
Indeed, as per Sofa Score data, Seung-soo completed three of his four attempted dribbles on Friday night.
| Newcastle United vs Espanyol stats | Park Seung-soo |
| Minutes played | 63 |
| Touches | 32 |
| Completed dribbles | 3 |
| Completed crosses | 2 |
| Ground duels won | 5 |
He found the mark with two of his four crosses and won five of his seven ground duels.
While Seung-soo did lose the ball five times, that is probably to be expected of a young winger looking to impress.
These are early days of course but the signs are certainly promising. Newcastle United may well have a player on their hands in Park Seung-soo…
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