South Korean footballer Ji Dong-won, once confined to the bench in the English Premier League, has joined a first-division German club on loan, officials said Wednesday.
Ji's new team, FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga, and his English side, Sunderland, both announced early Wednesday, Korean time, that Ji is moving to Germany on a loan deal. The transaction ended months of speculation on the future of the 21-year-old, who had not played a game for Sunderland in the ongoing season.
According to FC Augsburg, Ji passed his medical tests Tuesday in Germany, one day before the start of training for the second half of the Bundesliga season. The 18 teams in the top German competition play 34 games a season, and they've been on their mid-season break since mid-December after getting 17 matches under their belt.
FC Augsburg also said both clubs have agreed not to disclose further details of Ji's move. Sunderland said Ji will remain with the German club until the end of the current season.
On Augsburg, Ji will be reunited with Koo Ja-cheol, his teammate on the South Korean Olympic squad that captured the bronze medal at the London Games last summer.
Ji joined Sunderland in June 2011 from the Chunnam Dragons in South Korea's K-League. He was the eighth South Korean, and also the youngest at age 20, to join the English Premier League.
After netting two goals in 21 games last season, Ji never played in any of Sunderland's 20 games this season.
In the Bundesliga, Augsburg is ranked 17th among 18 clubs with one win, 10 losses and six draws. The team has only scored 12 goals, the second fewest in the league.
The Bundesliga's two worst teams at the end of each season are relegated to the second division next season, while the 16th-ranked team faces the third-place team from the second division in the relegation playoff.
Last season, Koo joined Augsburg from another Bundesliga side, VfL Wolfsburg, on a loan deal, when Augsburg was mired in 17th place. Koo then scored five goals in the team's final 15 matches to help it finish the season in 14th, outside the relegation zone. (Yonhap News)
<관련 한글 기사>
선덜랜드 지동원, 분데스리가로 임대
독일 프로축구 아우크스부르크가 잉글랜드 프리미어리그에서 뛴 지동원(선덜랜드)의 임대 영입을 공식 발표했다.
아우크스부르크는 1일(현지시간) 구단 홈페이지에 "프리미어리그의 선덜랜드에서 공격수 지동원을 임대 영입했다"며 "(지동원이) 메디컬 테스트를 성공적으로 마치고 아우크스부르크의 일원이 됐다"고 밝혔다.
아우크스부르크는 선덜랜드와의 계약에 따라 자세한 임대 조건을 공개하지 않기로 했다고 덧붙였다.
이어 구자철과 지동원이 함께 뛰게 됐다는 점을 강조하면서 두 선수가 2012 런던올림픽에서 함께 동메달을 일궈냈다고 소개했다.
아우크스부르크의 슈테판 로이터 사무국장은 "지동원은 공격 부문 어느 곳에나 기용할 수 있는 자원"이라며 "아우크스부르크가 후반기 리그를 준비하는 데 완벽하게 들어맞는다"고 말했다. (연합뉴스)
