Lee Kang

PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 08: New signing Lee Kang-in poses after signing for Paris Saint-Germain on July ... [+] 8, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Paris Saint-Germain Football/PSG via Getty Images)

Paris Saint-Germain has built its brand on its star forwards, but none were on show on their pre-season tour of Japan.

Lionel Messi left in July, Kylian Mbappe was left “in the loft” in France amid an ongoing transfer saga, and Neymar has been out with an ankle injury.

The lack of star names on the pitch seemed to have an impact on attendances in Japan, with only around 25,000 fans watching PSG’s goalless draw against Al Nassr.

But the absence of Mbappe didn’t seem to affect attendances in the South Korean port city of Busan, possibly because fans were there to watch another star.

22-year-old midfielder Lee Kang-in joined PSG on July 8, signing from La Liga side Mallorca for $24 million. Almost immediately, work was underway to make the most of Lee’s commercial potential. With PSG already heading to Japan, a late pre-season date was tagged on the end of that tour to bring the French champions to South Korea.

PSG’s game against K League side Jeonbuk Motors didn’t quite sell out, with 1,300 tickets, mainly in the $200-plus price range, still available 90 minutes ahead of kick off, and there were plenty of empty seats in the east stand as fans hid in the shade. The attendance was announced as 43,520, about 10,000 short of the Asiad Stadium’s official capacity.

Outside the stadium before kickoff, a line of fans around half a kilometer long stood in 35°C heat for official PSG merchandise, and the road to the stadium was filled with less official merchandise stands.

TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 31: Fans take pgotos of Kang-in Lee before the Paris Saint-Germain training ... [+] session at National Stadium on July 31, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Paris Saint-Germain Football/PSG via Getty Images)

Lee started on the bench, but every time the camera panned to him, it was greeted with a loud cheer. When he started warming up in the 57th minute, the cheer he got was almost as loud as the one Neymar received for his deflected first-half goal.

Lee eventually came on after 67 minutes and only made a few passes in his short spell on the pitch. Neymar made it two-nil on 82 minutes, getting onto the end of a through-ball and calmly finishing, and Marco Asensio finished Jeonbuk off three minutes from time with a strike into the top corner. But despite his limited involvement, Lee Kang-in was the star of the show in Busan.

Lee is seen as the next great hope for South Korean soccer. In 2018, he became the youngest South Korean to play in a top European league when he made his debut for Valencia. The next season, he almost single-handedly dragged South Korea’s under-20 World Cup side to the final of the 2019 tournament, where they lost to Ukraine. Lee was awarded the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player, an accolade won by the likes of Lionel Messi in 2005 and Paul Pogba in 2013.

Last season at Mallorca, he scored six, got seven assists and made more dribbles than any La Liga player in the ten games following the 2022 World Cup. He made his mark for Korea at that World Cup as well, changing the tide of South Korea’s match against Ghana when, just moments after coming on as a substitute, he won the ball and crossed it in for Cho Gue-sung to score.

Lee Kang-in might not be Messi’s replacement, but he is part of a huge rebuild at the Parc des Princes under new head coach Luis Enrique. Big names like Mauro Icardi and Sergio Ramos have been released and others like Georginio Wijnaldum and Leandro Paredes could be shown the door. PSG have also spent big on Lucas Hernandez, Manuel Ugarte, and could soon add Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele to their squad.

Despite this rebuild, PSG still have an abundance of attacking talent and there are worries that Lee won’t get enough minutes to develop as a player. His lack of minutes led Lee to move from Valencia to Mallorca two years ago and it was only last season that he really broke out as a player in La Liga.

Son Heung-min might still be South Korea’s golden boy, with his face plastered everywhere and murals in his hometown, but Lee is already a close second, and if he can break into Paris Saint-Germain’s team, his popularity will only grow.