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Lee Chung-yong

Lee Chung-Yong
Lee Chung-Yong 20130427.jpg
Lee with Bolton Wanderers in 2013
Personal information
Full name Lee Chung-Yong
Date of birth (1988-07-02) 2 July 1988 (age 28)
Place of birth Seoul, South Korea
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Winger
Club information
Current team
Crystal Palace
Number 14
Youth career
2001–2003 Dobong Middle School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2009 FC Seoul 54 (11)
2009–2015 Bolton Wanderers 176 (17)
2015– Crystal Palace 29 (1)
National team
2003–2005 South Korea U17 6 (6)
2006–2007 South Korea U20 18 (1)
2007–2008 South Korea U23 7 (0)
2008– South Korea 75 (8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:14, 21 January 2017 (UTC).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:30, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
Lee Chung-yong
Hangul 이청용
Hanja 李靑龍
Revised Romanization I Cheong-Yong
McCune–Reischauer Yi Ch'ŏng'yong

Lee Chung-Yong (Hangul이청용; Korean pronunciation: [i.tɕʰʌŋ.joŋ]; born 2 July 1988) is a South Korean footballer who plays for Premier League club Crystal Palace and the South Korean national team.

He is nicknamed "Blue Dragon", which is a literal translation of his given name "Chung-Yong", derived from Hanja, 청용(靑龍). He joined in the 2004 season and ever since his early debut at the age of 18 for the South Korean side FC Seoul in the 2006 season of K League, Lee has gathered much attention from domestic football fans of South Korea in general, particularly because in South Korean football, where rookies mostly make their entrance into professional clubs through draft system, dropping out of middle school to sign a contract with a top division football club was a very rare case.

In January 2009, The Times named Lee as one of the top 50 rising stars in football.

Lee Chung-Yong's football career started at the age of 11. Although considered to have started too late by some, his enormous talent was evident and his reputation grew among the Seoul youth football development community.

In 2003, FC Seoul, then known as Anyang LG Cheetahs in its modern incarnation, then manager Cho Kwang-rae began focusing on developing a youth academy within the team. Lee, who, at the time, was attending Dobong Middle School caught the eye of a scout and manager Cho decided to attend his match. After watching only the first half, he was certain Lee had a massive potential, and decided to sign him on the spot. Subsequently, Lee dropped out of the school and joined FC Seoul. Dropping out of middle school could mean a lot later in his life since Korea does not draft middle school dropouts for its military. FC Seoul at the time signed a handful of youngsters this way, with the most prominent ones being Lee Chung-yong himself, Ko Yo-han, Koh Myong-jin and Song Jin-hyung. He was a Substitute in the 2004 League Cup, In 2006, He debuted in the K League. For the next several years, Lee honed his skills in the FC Seoul reserves alongside close friend and international team-mate Ki Sung-yueng.


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Wikipedia

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