Norwich City: Insight on South Korea's Hwang Ui-jo's career

CS: Hwang will become the first South Korean to play for Norwich. What can you tell us about him? 

SH: When you look at the Korean national team over the last 10 years or so, there has not been a goalscorer who has been more prolific than Hwang Ui-jo and that includes Son Heung-Min.

He's been prolific between 2018 and 2021 especially. Those four years have been some of the best in recent history under Paulo Bento. Hwang was the leading goalscorer during that period.

The disappointment for him was at the World Cup. During that four-year period, the expectation for him was to go to the World Cup and score big goals for Korea but that didn't happen.

The concern is that he's been out of form for a year now. Last season, he had some struggles. He moved to Olympiacos from Forest after a spell in France. He couldn't get anything going there. He returned to Korea, and it took him some time to rebound. He recovered some of his goalscoring rate but not to the level it was.

He played in France and became the highest-scoring Asian player there by scoring 30 goals in nearly three seasons. It's a different situation now - both parties will be hoping to reap benefits from each other. 

CS: You've mentioned the struggle he's had over the last year or so - has that come from a lack of home and being unsettled because of the moves? 

SH: What made it difficult for him was that he moved to Olympiacos, which wasn't a move that we really expected. After such a good season in France, the expectation was that we'd see him in one of the bigger leagues like the Premier League or the Bundesliga. That move didn't materialise.

The fact that he missed pre-season at his new club really hurt his chances of maintaining his form. Once he lost it, it was really hard to recover. Playing a World Cup in the middle of the season didn't help.

The worst part for him is that Olympiacos had an expectation for him to perform immediately and they didn't have patience with him. He had to engineer a loan back to Korea.

This is crunch time for Hwang Ui-jo. If he can bounce back at Norwich then it gives him a chance of winning back his status in the national team. It'll be an interesting time in this upcoming season. 

CS: His career has followed a really interesting trajectory from Asian football to Europe - what sort of player is he and can you talk a bit about his journey?

SH: When he first came through in Korea he was considered one of the up and coming talents, but at no point during his time in the K League was he considered as one of the best strikers.

He is a technical player but he isn't the type of player who will overpower opponents. He will slip out of tight spaces and create space that way. He can turn defences but he won't dominate in the air.

Hwang Ui-jo (bottom) is left frustrated after missing a chance in South Korea's game against Uruguay in the World Cup. (Image: PA Images)

When he really first came up in 2018, he was playing at the Asian Games with the U23s as one of the overage players. It's a very important tournament for Korea as winning a Gold Medal grants military exemption for players in that tournament.

Hwang Ui-jo was the top scorer in that tournament and played such an important role - he was so popular and helped Son continue his career in Europe by avoiding military service. He earned his move to Europe and became a star in Korea. 

CS: How has this move been perceived in Korea? Has it been picked up at all? 

SH: It caught a lot of people by surprise. It was pretty much accepted that Hwang would be at Nottingham Forest this season whether he would play or not.

Norwich has a reputation in Korea as being Teemu Pukki's team, to be honest. He is a player we are very familiar with in Korea because of his goalscoring rate in the Premier League. Now he's playing in the MLS with another Korean player in Minnesota, which is interesting for us. 

CS: It opens up a new market of fans for Norwich - it's an opportunity to attract people from a new audience to watch their games now. 

SH: No doubt about it. If they win promotion back to the Premier League, then it would be a big thing in Korea.

I don't know if Championship games are broadcast in Korea but that wouldn't surprise me now. It's one of the very few countries in the world where you can watch all the leagues with very little cost. I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point, we see Norwich on TV in Korea.

Hwang Ui-jo is hoping to rediscover his form at Norwich City. (Image: PA Images)

The following will be there and you will definitely see Korean media providing coverage of Norwich and if Hwang starts scoring goals, it will be pretty extensive. 

CS: What would be a successful loan move for Hwang Ui-jo at this stage of his career?

SH: If he can score close to 10 goals, and I think the expectations should be higher, his productivity will rely upon his chemistry with the rest of the team. Considering his form over the last 12 months or so, if he can score anything close to 10 goals then that would be considered a moderate success. 

- You can watch the full conversation with South Korean football expert Steve Han on our YouTube page or via the link below