FRUSTRATED spectator Park Ji-sung is desperate to put his injury nightmare behind him and ensure he helps Manchester United achieve big things on the pitch as well as off it.
The South Korean star was restricted to a place on the bench yesterday as United defeated K-League outfit FC Seoul 4-0 in the second game of their Far East tour.
Park was desperate to be involved but knows he will be sidelined until January after suffering cruciate ligament damage at the end of last season.
So, while the 25-year-old realises his presence at Old Trafford is one of the major factors in United's phenomenal popularity in Korea, he wants to make more of an impact in the chase for honours.
"I wasn't able to do as much for the team as I would have liked last season because of injuries," he told www.manutd.kr.
"This time when I'm back from injury I hope to stay fit and play more games.
"I hope the team can be successful again - we won the title but weren't able to win the Champions League and the FA Cup so I'd like to win them. Really, I just want to win as many trophies as possible."
Park's presence on the United bench last night was greeted with unbridled enthusiasm from a 64,000 crowd, whose devotion to the Red Devils cause appears to be on a par with any supporter hailing from Stretford or Salford.
All the goals, from Cristiano Ronaldo, Chris Eagles, Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra, brought massive cheers from all corners of the stadium, further enhancing the reputation of Korean fans.
A veteran of five Far East visits in his two-decade stint as United boss, this was nevertheless Sir Alex Ferguson's first visit to Seoul.
Yet he assured a country which boasts an incredible 750,000 United visa card holders, the Red Devils will be back.
"This is Manchester United's first visit to Korea - and I am sure we will be coming back," he said.
"The reception we have received here has been absolutely excellent. Everything about the trip has been first class.
"I used to think when we went to Thailand it was almost impossible because we had thousands inside and outside the hotel all night. We have experienced the same thing here.
"It doesn't surprise me. It is just one of these phenomenons we can create in certain parts of the world."
It is a phenomenon that has no chance of abating as long as Park remains a United player. The departure of the team bus an hour after the final whistle was greeted with the kind of noise which used to be reserved for Beatles concerts.
How do you rate Park? Have your say.
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Ya, united for life, since 1972 for me!!!
As a marketing tool, the Parkster is genuinely world-class. As a Premiership footballer, however, he's genuinely very average. Seems like a good bloke though...
Another no hope signing for publicity purposes, Premier League standard ?
The sooner you guys move out to the far east where your loyal support is based or maybe south London the better
Park is a very good player and very unlucky, he was just getting to the standard United expect of him when he was injured. Well worth waiting for I think.
Park is a great squad player, and it will be a great boost when he retuns. In his last 4 appearences and scored 4 and was really beginning to find his feet. Always gives 110% and is an able understudy for Ronaldo
tmuf agree prefer park on the right to everybodies favourite scotsman
Robbo if you had the choice of Park or DF who would you go for? ;-)
If it was in central midfield Park is not as good as Fletcher. On the wing Park is clearly first choice. Having said that not sure why Fletcher is being brought up in a discussion about the Korean man of glass. Its interesting that the clamour to remove Fletcher is at its highest when no football is being played.
duncan how often is df preferred on right wing see how many times he has played there? then watch park play for psv against milan 2 yrs ago in central midfield you may change your mind on who is the better midfield player.
Park is a quality player and has more than held his own for United and, before that, for PSV at the very highest level. Anyone who thinks he is in the squad to sell shirts has either never watched him play or knows nothing about football (which, strangely enough, never seems to stop people sharing their opinions!).
His injury record isn't great though and I heard the Korean coach making some very worrying comments about this latest knee injury. Fingers crossed we do get him back before the end of next season. The injection of energy (and goals) he brought to the team on his comeback this spring made an important contribution to the season as a whole.
BD when did Fletcher play on the right wing when Park was fit? Let me know because I genuinely can't remember but in any case Fletcher is defensively better than Park so if on the occasions he is played there it was to bolster the right wing then he would play over Park although I prefer us not to play that way. BUT my main question is why are you guys mentioning him yet again?
duncan arsenal at home last season and we lost
Park has two attributes that make him a unique Man U player: a) he can at times make space for himself out of nothing and when it happens it is breathtaking b) he has a habit of knicking the ball off players - I can think of at least three goals he has created this way.
chris, that's not a fair question!
Sorry Robbo ;-)