Ki Sung-yueng has pledged to help Birmingham City find the next Paik Seung-ho as the club targets more South Korean imports.
Blues signed Paik on a free transfer 12 months ago and the midfielder has been a revelation. He was one of the few who emerged from Blues’ relegation from the Championship with credit and has excelled in Chris Davies’ midfield this season.
The 27-year-old has struck up an excellent partnership in midfield with Japanese star Tomoki Iwata and Blues are scouring the Asian market, particularly South Korea and Japan, for more players.
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Japanese winger Ayumu Yokoyama joined Blues in the summer and South Korea international left-back Lee Myung-jae arrived in January.
Ki, who played alongside Blues’ Director of Football Craig Gardner at Sunderland, played his part in Paik rejecting the Black Cats in favour of a switch to St Andrew’s. Blues now have a useful ally in Ki.
During a trip to Blues’ training ground to " target="_blank" class="link"> film a documentary earlier this season, Ki told Blues manager Davies: “I already spoke with Gards and he’s really interested in Korean young players, if you pick the names and let me know, I can always help. They are cheap. It’s not expensive players, but the talent is really good.
“If you can send someone to watch games for two or three weeks because we have a lot of competitions. We can go over with the people from the club and if you pick a player, we could say 'Birmingham is interested in you, what do you think?’”
