Park to join Man Utd in Seoul

Park Ji-Sung will join his Manchester United teammates in Seoul later this week after his no-show in Malaysia on the first leg of their pre-season Asian tour, the club said.

The South Korean is an icon in his home country and has been crucial to United building a huge fan base there since his move to the club in 2005 from PSV Eindhoven.

He missed a similar tour two years ago with a cruciate knee ligament injury and his failure to arrive with the rest of the squad in Kuala Lumpur last Friday raised fears that he may be injured again.

But the club has clarified that he was given a few extra days off due to his role in South Korea’s international fixtures last month and will join the team on Wednesday ahead of their match with FC Seoul on Friday.

The 28-year-old is one of the few Asians to have made it big in England and Sir Alex Ferguson said he hoped the region would produce more top class players soon.

“There are very few Asian players currently making it in the Premier League and also across Europe. I hope to see more from Asia soon,” he said, pointing to the Japanese and Korean leagues as having the best prospects.

United play a Malaysian XI later Monday in the second match of their tour, after beating the same Malaysian side 3-2 on Saturday.

The Jakarta leg was cancelled after bomb blasts in the Indonesian capital on Friday.