Park Seung-soo is, so far at least, one of the only positives of Newcastle United’s pre-season tour of Asia.
Newcastle United have lost all three of their pre-season games thus far, two of which have come during their tour of the Far East.
Team K-League beat Newcastle 1-0 on Wednesday in the South Korean city of Suwon, only days after Eddie Howe’s side lost 3-2 to Arsenal in Singapore.
Summer signing Seung-soo, however, impressed during the otherwise dismal defeat in Suwon. The forward joined Newcastle from Suwon Samsung Bluewings and made his debut during the game.
Seung-soo impressed Newcastle fans on his debut, showcasing some exciting dribbling skills in an otherwise sluggish performance from Howe’s side.
Bruno Guimaraes was impressed with Seung-soo’s debut, and the teenage forward spoke about life at the club to reporters after the game.
Park Seung-soo reveals Kieran Trippier support at Newcastle United
The 18-year-old revealed that while the Newcastle United squad congratulated him on what was a promising debut, they also told him he must work harder in future.
There’s no suggestion that the message was critical, just that the rest of the squad know the demands of being an elite footballer.
Seung-soo also revealed that Kieran Trippier is taking great care of him behind the scenes, and that he’s grown close to both Guimaraes and Jacob Murphy after filming some sort of video with them.
“After the match, everyone congratulated me on my efforts,” he said (via Chosun Biz).
“They also told me that I need to work harder in the future. Kieran Trippier takes great care of me. I became closer with Bruno Guimaraes, the captain, and Jacob Murphy after filming SNL together.”
Eddie Howe’s verdict on Park Seung-soo’s Newcastle United debut
Seung-soo could leave Newcastle on loan this summer, though his chances of a career in the first team cannot have been harmed on Wednesday.
Still, it seems incredibly unlikely that the club will make a decision on the basis of one brief cameo during a pre-season game.
There are at least glimpses of a promising future, however.
Indeed, Howe was impressed. Speaking to The Chronicle after the game, the Newcastle United manager said: “I thought he did well. Not an easy situation to come into the game because there’s a lot of expectation on him.
“For someone so young, I thought he handled it really well. And you can see he’s got this ability when he goes one on one to chop the defender.
“He’s got a really good body feint, and I was really, really pleased with him. So he can be really happy with his performance today.”
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