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Ha Dae-sung |
South Korean football club FC Seoul said Friday it has agreed to ship captain Ha Dae-sung to China.
FC Seoul said it has reached terms with Beijing Guoan to deal its veteran midfielder to the Chinese Super League side.
FC Seoul said Ha, 28, asked the team to grant him an opportunity to play in a new environment. FC Seoul added that it didn’t want to lose one of the team’s pillars in midfield but respected Ha’s wish to challenge himself in a different league.
Ha will depart for the Chinese capital on Sunday to undergo a physical, FC Seoul said.
According to FC Seoul, the hard-nosed holding midfielder received three offers from foreign clubs between 2012 and summer of 2013.
Ha made his K League Classic debut with Ulsan Hyundai in 2004 and went on to play for Daegu FC and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors before joining FC Seoul in 2010.
He helped FC Seoul win the K League Classic championships in 2010 and 2012, and finish as the runner-up to China’s Guangzhou Evergrande at the 2013 AFC Champions League. He was the team’s captain the past two seasons.
He has also played on the national team in recent matches and appears to have a shot at making the final roster for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Ha is the second high-profile FC Seoul player to leave South Korea this offseason. Last month, Montenegrin striker Dejan Damjanovic, the three-time reigning scoring champ here, joined Jiangsu Sainty, also in the Chinese Super League.
Earlier this week, FC Seoul said it has offered veteran Brazilian defender Adilson dos Santos a coaching position for next season. Midfielder Mauricio Molina, one of the league’s premier playmakers, is also on the transfer market.
An official with FC Seoul said the club “will use all means possible” to compensate for these losses next season, and the team’s goal is still to win the K League Classic and the AFC Champions League. (Yonhap News)
