Newcastle United are not only targeting first-team ready stars but also 'untapped gems' as the Magpies stretch their scouting radius
Paul Mitchell
Paul Mitchell
South Korea? It's a new market for Newcastle United. In so many ways.
Not only will Newcastle play friendlies in Suwon and Seoul for the first time next month - the Magpies have also been keeping an eye on the country's hottest prospects as club scout Oliver Slater explained.
"The idea is that we're coming into a new area," he said during a recent trip. "We're coming into a new market, which we have not really looked too much into before."
Other clubs have been looking for a while now, of course. Spurs recruited Yang Min-hyeok from Gangwon FC last summer while Brighton have signed Yoon Do-young from Daejeon Hana Citizen.
Newcastle could now make their first foray into this market with a move for Park Seung-soo. The 18-year-old, who previously had a trial at Bayern Munich, set the record as the youngest goal scorer in the second-highest division of the South Korean football league system.
Park Seung-soo certainly fits the sort of profile that Newcastle have been targeting in a PSR world after outgoing sporting director Paul Mitchell stressed how the Magpies have to stretch their scouting radius to 'find undervalued talent at a certain age'.
Eddie Howe has also recognised that Newcastle need to unearth 'untapped gems and try and develop players to become top players'.
Newcastle have since moved aggressively to: 'get ahead of a number of other top clubs' and sign Dinamo Tbilisi prospect Vakhtang Salia; bring in Baran Yildiz, who had offers from elsewhere after after scoring a hat-trick in a youth game for Genclerbirligi against Galatasaray; and land Antonio Cordero after the Spain under-19 international turned down a new deal at Malaga.
Seung-soo could be the next in line.
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