MLS outfit Minnesota United have made an approach to Nottingham Forest to sign Hwang Ui-jo, according to Fabrizio Romano. The player spent the first half of the season with Olympiacos but will have his loan terminated.
Hwang has not exactly covered himself in glory during his time with the Greek champions. He’s failed to find the net and having already played for Bordeaux this season his options are limited.
Another move to Europe isn’t on the agenda but several clubs in South Korea and America are keen. Los Angeles FC, Portland Timbers, Chicago Fire and Vancouver are all interested; with FC Seoul and Vissel Kobe also keen.
Hwang went to the World Cup with South Korea. He missed an absolute sitter in the opening game against Uruguay, with Danny Murphy calling it ‘awful’ live on BBC Sport.
Clearly, Paulo Bento wasn’t impressed either. He made substitute appearances for the rest of the tournament and played just 30 minutes across his country’s remaining three matches.
His confidence is clearly lacking right now. He failed to find the from 11 appearances for Olympiacos and the 30-year-old needs to go somewhere and get a regular run of games in the team.
Minnesota have made an approach to sign Hwang
This would be a useful transfer for Hwang. He can’t play for Forest this season due to FIFA regulations regarding the number of clubs you can play for over a single campaign.
As a result, the MLS looks like the best bet for him. The league is improving all the time in the United States and perhaps more crucially, he would get the game time that he desperately craves.
Hwang looked like a bizarre signing by Forest. At 30, he’s hardly one for the future and the fact he went straight out on loan to Olympiacos is even more intriguing.
It’s fair to say that it looks unlikely that the 52-cap star will ever turn out in the Garibaldi. If Forest were relegated there might be a small possibility but even then it seems unlikely.
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