A year ago Valencia boasted of having in its ranks the best footballer of the European Under'19 (Ferran Torres) and the one of the Sub'20 World Cup (Kang-in Lee). This Tuesday the sale of Ferran Torres to Manchester City will be made official. Foios' will undergo a medical examination and sign his contract for the next five seasons in Barcelona (he will do so there and not in England to avoid having to go through quarantine). Finally, the operation will be closed for 23 million euros plus another 12 in variables. So, Ferran's departure leaves Kang-in Lee as the main promise of Peter Lim's project, which wants to give the Korean a mark in Valencia, a footballer that the owner of the club tried months ago to keep a percentage of his image rights.
Through the corridors of the black and white offices it is said that, if it were for Lim, “they would play Kang-in and ten more.” He is his right eye from the quarry. For months, Valencia has wanted to sit down to negotiate a contract extension (it ends in 2022 and they want to avoid repeating the situation that has been experienced with Ferran, who had reached his last year of contract, leaving Valencia at the mercy of third parties ), but for now Kang-in awaits events.
Lim flatly refused to let him on loan last summer. But nor with Marcelino (6 minutes in the three games the Asturian directed), nor with Celades (564 minutes out of 3,600, 15%) not even with Voro (124 minutes in the last six days, 22%) Kang-in had the continuity he wants. Hence, he gave César Sánchez lengths when he wanted to sit down to negotiate a contract extension. Even in the mind of the Korean, he gained strength trying the course that comes far from Mestalla (he had offers from France and also from Spain).
The conjuncture, with a new boss (Javi Grace) in a locker room where many movements are going to take place (around 12 exits, as leaked from the club to Batzine, an English portal that uses the black and white dome to spread its messages), lead Kang-in to take any cold decision. The transfer window will remain open until October 5.
So the Korean international has time ahead to see if the role he will have in Javi Gracia's plans (Valencia returns on August 10 to training) are according to the stripes that the club wants to give him as one of the icons, along with footballers such as Gayà or Soler, of the project. Throughout his career, Gracia has demonstrated (in Málaga he made his debut among others, such as Ontiveros, Fornals, Juanpi and Castillejo) that he has no qualms about betting on young people.