Ki Sung-yueng

Ki Sung-yueng is a South Korean central midfielder whose reputation rests mainly on what he does with the ball. After schooling in Brisbane he came home to FC Seoul, made his league debut in 2007 and by 2008 was central to the side, settling a match against Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Seoul's biggest rivals, with a 92nd-minute winner. As of 2026 he is listed with Pohang Steelers in K League 1. Celtic paid £2.1 million for him and he arrived at Parkhead in January 2010. By late 2010 he was a first-team regular, and many of his Celtic goals came from distance. He opened the scoring in the 2011 Scottish Cup final against Motherwell with a left-footed hit from around 35 yards, and in the title-winning 2011–12 season he added seven goals and six assists. His strike against Hibernian on the opening day of 2011–12 was also left-footed, yet in a league meeting with Motherwell that September he scored from outside the box with his right. Neil Lennon praised his "good composure on the ball" and called his passing range "excellent". Swansea made him their record signing in August 2012. His first Premier League season brought fewer goals than in Scotland, but his passing style won over supporters and critics alike. The 2013 League Cup final asked something different of him: he played more than an hour in central defence, an unfamiliar job, and the switch worked as Swansea beat Bradford City 5–0. After a loan at Sunderland, where he cut inside Ashley Cole to beat Chelsea in extra time and played on through months of knee tendonitis, he became a fixture under Garry Monk and was voted Swansea's Player of the Year in 2015. The later years in England were harder. At Newcastle, Rafa Benitez left him out for five matches and pointed to his "lack of mobility". He still found ways to matter: coming off the bench against Watford, he delivered the free kick Ayoze Pérez headed home for Newcastle's first league win of that season. Injuries then piled up, including one picked up against the Philippines at the 2019 Asian Cup and an ankle injury during a Mallorca spell that brought only one appearance. For his country he won 110 caps between 2008 and 2019, played at three World Cups and took Olympic bronze in 2012 after scoring the vital fifth penalty in the quarter-final shoot-out against Great Britain. Uli Stielike made him captain after the 2014 World Cup, and he set up Son Heung-min's equaliser in the 2015 Asian Cup final. Back at FC Seoul he was named club captain for 2021 and scored the deciding goal in three straight one-goal wins. Across a long career the picture is consistent: a calm passer who could hurt teams from range and was trusted to lead, with mobility the weakness Benitez pointed to in public.