PROFILE | Lee Kang-in forever consigned to bit-part role at PSG? | OneFootball

Over a century of appearances into his time at Paris Saint-Germain, Lee Kang-in’s role in the team remains that of a utility player. Over the last two and a half years, the Valencia academy product has usually fluctuated between spells in the starting XI and longer ones in the supporting cast, more often dictated by other players’ absences than his own form.

This calendar year, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s arrival in January made a major dent in the South Korean international’s playing time. Up until then, he had been involved in every match in the first half of last season, even finding the net six times in the first 11 league games.

The Georgian arrived just as Lee looked set to cement his status as one of the key creative forces of the team. After some tepid performances as a makeshift false nine, a role that Ousmane Dembélé would eventually thrive in, the former Mallorca man was returning to more familiar creative roles in the middle and on the wing. 

What Kvaratskhelia brings to the table, much like Bradley Barcola and Dembélé, is a directness and goalscoring threat which Lee ultimately lacks. For all his inconspicuous creativity, intricate passing and pressure-beating turns, he would have been off the pace in the midst of the sweeping force that was PSG on the continental stage last spring.

PSG’s academy strategy a threat to Lee Kang-in’s playing time?

With just 19 minutes on the pitch after the play-off stage, all in the last 16 second leg against Liverpool, his role in the Champions League victory will have been minimal. Just as he looked set to leave this summer, the 24-year-old turned in a match-saving cameo against Tottenham in the Super Cup, coming on to halve the deficit before Gonçalo Ramos scored a late equaliser. 

Lee has been a reliable performer when called upon in the midst of this season’s injury crisis. He was comfortably PSG’s standout player in the defeat to Bayern Munich in November, as his left foot produced most of his team’s chances that evening.

The 24-year-old’s versatility, having already played as far back as defensive midfield, is invariably an advantage in terms of accumulating playing time. However, his chances of establishing himself in the starting XI look increasingly slim given the emergence of several academy products in the positions he covers. The midfielder is yet to fully realise the potential he promised when he first broke through in Spain.

GFFN | Raphael Jucobin