Player Profile: Iliyan Mitsanski

After Jong Tae-Se’s move to J-League strugglers Shimizu S-Pulse, Suwon Bluewings have looked to Germany for his replacement, signing Bulgarian international Iliyan Mitsanski from Karlsruher SC. Like Jong Tae-Se, Mitsanski is the kind of striker who works hard for the team and brings other members into play. He only scored five times last season but was an integral part of the Karlsruhe side that finished third in the 2. Bundesliga and almost won promotion, losing in extra time to former European Cup finalists Hamburger SV in the promotion playoff. After moving around a lot at the start of his career, Mitsanski made his name at Polish side Zaglebie Lubin, where he scored over forty goals across the space of two seasons between 2008 and 2010. This form attracted the interest of FC Kaiserslautern who signed him in 2010. Unfortunately he couldn’t break into the team there and was loaned out, first to Frankfurt where he had a very successful loan spell, and then to Ingolstadt, before moving to Karlsruhe. The twenty-nine year-old striker is a current Bulgaria international and has bagged four goals in fifteen appearances for his country, scoring most recently in the two-all draw against Italy in March. Suwon have a good track record of bringing strikers over from Germany, signing Edu from Mainz and Jong Tae-Se from FC Koln in the past. If Mitsanski can continue that trend then he may well become the new fans’ favourite at the Bigbird Stadium.