Lee Kang-in has been confirmed as part of Hwang Sun-hong’s Asian Games squad, but will not be called up for the upcoming home match against Nice, raising concerns about his fitness.
PSG announced the list on its official website on Friday (June 15), saying it was “the group selected by coach Luis Enrique for the match against Nice at the Parc des Princes.”
The list includes all of the key players, including Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Randall Kolo-Moani, and Manuel Ugarte, but does not include the names of Marco Asensio, Fabian Luis, and Lee Kang-In, who are all known to be injured. In particular, Lee Kang-in, whose return to training was announced by PSG themselves, was not included in the squad for Nice, raising doubts about his fitness.
Lee hasn’t played an official game since the last match against Toulouse due to injury. After the Toulouse game, PSG announced on their website, “Lee Kang-in injured his left quadriceps. He will be treated until the end of the next A-match break,” the club announced on its website.
Lee’s hamstring injury in the first match against Le Havre in preseason was a major concern for fans. Lee hadn’t missed a game due to injury since January 2020, but his injury in his first game since joining PSG led some PSG fans to wonder if he was suffering from the ‘PSG injury curse’.
Lee made his return to action against Jeonbuk and started the Ligue 1 match against Lorient and appeared to be in good shape, but he was quickly injured again in the second leg against Toulouse, much to the dismay of fans.
This time, however, his recovery didn’t take long. While it was initially thought that Lee would be sidelined for the entirety of the A-League season, PSG announced his return to training with a video on the club’s official social media accounts on December 12 with the tagline “PSG Training”. In the video, Lee was seen working out individually with a trainer at the indoor training center and later on the outdoor training center, where he participated in passing drills with his teammates, marking his return to team training for the first time since his injury.
After a highly anticipated return to training, Lee was not included in the roster for the game against Nice, leaving fans wondering when he would be able to return to action.
Lee Kang-in’s lack of fitness could spell trouble for the Asian Games team.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Friday, “After discussions with Lee Kang-in’s club Paris Saint-Germain, Lee Kang-in will join the Asian Games team after PSG’s UEFA Champions League home match against Dortmund on Sept. 19. Accordingly, Lee will travel to Hangzhou, China, to join the Asian Games team on the 20th,” said the organization.
It would be difficult for Lee to play well at the Asian Games if he was unable to play in both the Nice and Dortmund matches and was coming back from injury. Initially, coach Hwang Sun-hong was strongly in favor of Lee Kang-in’s inclusion and planned to have a plan in place to utilize him, but if Lee Kang-in’s performance and physical condition suffers, those plans could be for naught.
With PSG scheduling his departure for after their UEFA Champions League group stage first leg against Dortmund, it’s not unlikely that the game will be his return to action.
Lee was included in PSG’s Champions League Group A squad, which the club announced on its official website on July 7, saying, “Luis Enrique has selected the players who will play in the Champions League group stage”. The inclusion marks a return to the Champions League after a four-year absence, having played in the competition with Valencia during the 2019/20 season.
The list does not include the likes of Schurrle N’Dour, Marco Verratti, Hugo Ekiti, Sergio Rico, and Kylian Mbappe, who all joined the club this summer, as well as the departures of Marco Verratti, Hugo Lloris, and Kylian Mbappe.
From PSG’s perspective, it’s possible that Lee’s return could have been pushed back to a relatively important game against Dortmund. PSG has been drawn in the same group as Borussia Dortmund (Germany), AC Milan (Italy), and Newcastle United (England) in the Champions League for the 2023/24 season, making it the ‘Group of Death’.
Dortmund proved their dominance in the 2022/23 season, fighting Bayern Munich for the title and reaching the round of 16 in the Champions League. AC Milan finished fourth in Serie A last season, but they did have some solid results, including reaching the Champions League quarterfinals, and they have a number of players who excel both offensively and defensively, including Hafa Leroy and Theo Hernandez.
Newcastle’s fortunes have skyrocketed in the last two seasons following their Saudi Arabian capital takeover. They finished fourth in the Premier League last season, and with quality players in key positions like Alexander Isaacs and Sandro Tonali, they’ve been able to hold their own against Premier League giants like Manchester City and Liverpool.카지노
Drawn in a group with some of the strongest teams in the competition, PSG will have to work hard to get past the group stage in order to improve on their Champions League performance, which has seen them reach the round of 16 in each of the last two seasons. That leaves plenty of room to utilize one of their most valuable resources, Lee Kang-in, in one of his final games before the Asian Games.
While the news of Lee’s exclusion from the PSG roster has been highly anticipated by fans and the Asian Games team alike, the timing of Lee’s return to action will have a significant impact on the performance of both PSG and the Asian Games team.
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