Hwang In-beom sought advice from Paulo Bento on Olympiacos move

Former Daejeon Citizen and FC Seoul midfielder, Hwang In-beom, says he sought the advice of his national team manager Paulo Bento before making the move to Olympiacos. Bento was sacked after seven months in charge but still gave a glowing reference for the club, league, and country.

The Hwang In-beom transfer saga finally came to an end on Friday 29th July when Greek Super League champions Olympiacos announced the acquisition of the 25-year-old. Hwang had, reportedly, been the subject of interest from clubs in France, Germany and England, among others, and had even signed an extension to his short-term deal with FC Seoul just a few weeks before joining Olympiacos.

But, before putting pen to paper, Hwang admitted that he spoke to former Olympiacos manager Paulo Bento. Speaking to Olympiacos' in-house media team, Hwang said:

"I asked many guys about this club and this country, especially I got advice from Paulo Bento, who was the head coach of Olympiacos, and he mentioned a lot of good things about this country, this club, the paper, the supporters, so and he didn't say any bad, bad thing about the club."

Determination

The decision to join a club the size of Olympiacos needed little explanation given that European football and the chance to win trophies will be what he has to look forward to. But, in case there are any detractors, Hwang appears to be extremely determined to show them that his move to Greece is the right one. On his Instagram story on the day his move was announed, Hwang posted a picture of himself with his agent standing in front of a large Olympiacos crest at the stadium with the caption "Big thanks to @christianemile for bringing me to this big club. Now let me show the people we are taking the right decision as always."

During his first official interview with his new club, Hwang spoke of how he will be challenging for titles at Olympiacos. He, then, will be one of only a few South Korean stars to go to Europe and play for the biggest club in that country. Park Ji-sung aside, there are few who can say the same. In Olympiacos, Hwang signs for a club which has won an incredible 47 Greek titles out of 92. A 48th and first for Hwang would almost certainly make him the first South Korean since Park Ji-sung in 2010-2011 and Ki Sung-yueng with Celtic in 2011-2012 to win a league title in Europe.

Hwang's delight was there to see as he spoke about why he chose Olympiacos as his next destination:

"I'm just really happy to be joining this great club. And I think it's the best club in Greece or one of the best clubs in Europe even. So I'm so happy to be part of this great club. You know, playing in Europe is my dream since I started playing football. I also wanted to play for the title, which we will challenge for 48th championship trophy [for Olympiacos]. So that's why I decided to come here.