Transfers: FC Seoul Sign Han Seunggyu from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

FC Seoul have secured the singing attacking midfielder Han Seunggyu on a season-long loan from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

With AFC Champions League qualification officially in the bag, FC Seoul have moved to sign Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' 23 year-old attacking midfielder Han Seunggyu on a season-long loan deal.

Manager Choi Yongsoo tried to sign Han this time last year but missed out with the former K League 1 Young Player of the Year eventually joining Jeonbuk instead.

However, Coach Choi has finally got his man and it is believed that the player would have preferred a permanent transfer but instead will join until the end of the 2020 season.

Speaking on his loan move, Han said: "It is an honour to join FC Seoul. I will do my best so that we can get good results. FC Seoul are a team with lots of dangerous and well-drilled players. I want to adapt quickly and to be able to help the other attacking players like Park Chuyoung and Pešić."

Han Seunggyu came through the ranks with Ulsan Hyundai, winning the FA Cup in 2017 after coming off the bench in the final second leg, and made nine league appearances, scoring once in a 2-1 home defeat to Incheon United in June that year.

The following season was the former Yeonsei University graduate's true breakout season, featuring 31 times in the league for the Horangi and scoring five goals, twice against FC Seoul, and winning the Young Player of the Year Award.

[READ: 2020 FC Seoul Squad Numbers]

A move to Jeonbuk followed but first team football was limited under Green Warriors gaffer Jose Morais, starting just nine times.

Ironically, his first Jeonbuk goal came against FC Seoul, a 97th minute winner at Jeonju Castle after Aleksandar Pešić had fired in what looked to be enough to earn Seoul a late draw.

"Han Seunggyu's move to Jeonbuk was always going to be a step up, even if he had been playing regularly for Ulsan Hyundai the season prior. Competition for places in central midfield in a team designed to deliver on all fronts meant that he would have to build on his marvellous 2018 campaign if he were ever to see regular starts."

"However, Han's biggest obstacle was perhaps Jeonbuk's managerial transition. His signing looked to have been one of the club's biggest coups that window with the thought he could go on to replace Lee Jaesung who had left the previous summer, yet he seemed to have been acquired by the Jeonbuk board to fit in with previous manager Choi Kanghee's style and did not seem to suit José Morais' plans. This is perhaps further underlined by the number of outbound players at Jeonbuk this winter, with many who were signed in the last two windows on the list, meaning Han may also have been a victim of circumstance."

"There were still flashes of his potential when he did feature though, and he has more than enough capability to shine as he once did at Ulsan. Jeonbuk's inability to find a way to include him may well turn out to be their biggest rivals' gain"
- Matthew Binns

Han will join up with the rest of the FC Seoul team before departing to Japan for further pre-season training and is one of three signings made by the capital club following the arrivals of Kim Jinya and Han Chanhee.

[READ: 2020 K League 1 Fixtures]