Adriano Signs for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Continuing with this window’s trend of former FC Seoul top scorers playing for the club’s
direct rivals in 2018, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors have today announced the signing of the
Brazilian striker Carlos Adriano de Sousa Cruz (aka Adriano) from Chinese League One side
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright F.C.

The 30 year-old forward has spent the past year plying his trade in the Chinese second tier
following a lucrative offer prising him away from FC Seoul at the end of 2016. During his time
in China, Adriano made 24 appearances for his club, notching up ten goals for his troubles.
This ratio of roughly one goal every other game follows his time at FC Seoul where he found
the net 25 times in 43 league appearances over an 18 month period. It is not just his reliable
domestic scoring record that will have attracted Jeonbuk to him however, the attacker drew
plenty of plaudits for his efforts in the 2016 AFC Champions League where he scored
thirteen goals in eleven games against Asia’s best, helping push FC Seoul to a semi-final
appearance against Jeonbuk where they were eventually defeated.

Adriano’s first club in Korea however was Daejeon Citizen, joining them at the start of the
2014 season when the club were a Challenge side vying for promotion. He lead them to
second division title, scoring a phenomenal 27 goals in 32 league matches, before spending
a further six months with the club in their ill-fated follow up year, still managing to score
seven as the team struggled. His efforts caught the eyes of then FC Seoul manager Choi Yong-soo, who added to him his squad. Adriano would go on to lift the FA Cup that season with the capital club, scoring in the final against local rivals Incheon United.

By coming to Jeonbuk, Adriano will be hoping to add the AFC Champions League to a
medal collection that already contains all available domestic trophies in Korea. Whilst there
is reason to be concerned about his recent playing time being in a lesser division, if he is
able to recapture his form, he should prove a welcome addition to Choi Kang-hee’s team as
they look to take on Asia once more.