Failed Wonderkid #18- Ji Dong-Won
- Andrew Cheam
- Apr 5, 2020
- 4 min read
Biodata
Full Name: Ji Dong-Won
Nationality: Korean
Date of Birth: 28 May 1991
Position: Forward
Current Club: Mainz 05
Current Market Price: 1.75mil Euro (Dec 2019)
Highest Market Price: 2.50mil Euro (Jun 2012)
Former Clubs:
2010- 2011 Jeonnam Dragons
2011- 2014 Sunderland
2013 FC Augsburg (loan)
2014 FC Augsburg (loan)
2014 Borussia Dortmund II
2015- 2019 FC Augsburg
2018 Darmstadt 98 (loan)
International Career:
2010- South Korea
Achievement:
None
Career
If you scored a winning goal in the last minute of the match against Manchester City at a very young age, you are almost certainly to gain the cult hero status in your club. In addition, you are always remembered as the player who clinched the victory and always is welcomed at the club. Sadly, it doesn’t mean that you will have a blistering career ahead and you might be forgotten by the football fans when you didn’t keep up the momentum. This is the case of the main character of this article- Ji Dong-Won.
Ji Dong-Won was born in Jeju-do in South Korea and began his footballing career at Gwangyang Jecheol High School. This is also the U-18 level for the South Korean K-League team Jeonnam Dragons. In 2007, Ji was selected to join Reading academy through the KFA Youth Project. After a year in England, Ji moved back to South Korea to join Jeonnam Dragons, where he scored prolifically in his last year in the academy. In November 2009, Ji was promoted to the first team of Jeonnam Dragons. In his debut season in senior football, he scored 9 goals and registered 4 assists in all competition. This includes a hat-trick against Gyeongnam in a Korean FA Cup match.
He was even managed to get his international call-up in August 2010 and making his international debut four months later. Ji was also part of the South Korean squad in 2011 AFC Asian Cup. In which he scored four goals in that tournament that helped his nation to earn a bronze medal. This is the performance that caught an eye from the European clubs including his future manager, Steve Bruce. Therefore despite injury issues in the second season in South Korea, he still managed to secure a move back to England with his performance. This time to Sunderland.
Ji’s career in Sunderland started brightly as he made his debut on August 2011 coming on for Asamoah Gyan against Liverpool and scored his first goal on September 2011 against Chelsea. The pinnacle of his Sunderland career came on the first day of 2012 when he scored the winning goal against Manchester City in the last minute of the match. However, this is the only recognised contribution from Ji towards Sunderland as his first-team opportunities were limited mainly due to his fitness issue. When Steve Bruce stepped down and Martin O’Neill was handed as the new Sunderland manager, Ji’s first-team opportunities were further limited.
In the first half of the 2012/2013 season, Ji failed to appear in the first team entirely. In order to regain his playing time, Ji signed for FC Augsburg on loan for the rest of the season, where his national teammate Koo Ja-Cheol was also on loan. He made his Bundesliga debut in a match against Fortuna Dusseldorf where he played the whole game. He then scored his first goal on February against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Throughout the half-season stay in FC Augsburg, Ji made 17 appearances and scored 5 goals in the league. Which the last goal against SpVgg Greuther Furth ultimately helped his team to avoid relegation.
When he returned to Sunderland in the 2013/2014 season, Ji made his first Sunderland appearance in over a year against Fulham under Paolo Di Canio. However, his first-team appearance was limited when Gus Poyet replaced Di Canio as the Sunderland manager. This caused Ji made a switch to Bundesliga on the next transfer window, with he joined FC Augsburg again on loan until the end of the season, then signed permanently for Borussia Dortmund. His second spell in FC Augsburg started in style where he scored a header to equalise against his future employer. Despite his injuries issue, Ji still earned 12 appearances in the league, scoring once in the process. In which he still earned a spot in South Korea national team in 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he made two appearances in the tournament.
On July 2014, Ji finally got his big move to Borussia Dortmund after finishing his loan spell in Augsburg. However, he only managed to play with the reserve team. His spell in Borussia Dortmund also hampered with injuries too. On December 2014, Ji signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with FC Augsburg without making any senior appearances in Borussia Dortmund. In Augsburg, he finally managed to earn his playing time. In his first permanent half-season in Augsburg, he helped his team to earn a European spot by finishing sixth in the league. In the next season, he even helped Augsburg to reach the Round of 32 in the Europa League, only lost to eventual finalist, Liverpool.
However, his spell in Augsburg started to be challenged in the 2016/2017 season where he found himself in a tough competition in his position with Takashi Usami, Caiuby and Jonathan Schmid. At the start of the 2017/2018, he was even out of the first team due to injury. It wasn’t until October 2017 when he made his first appearance of the season. In order to play regularly, Ji was loaned out to 2.Bundesliga side SV Darmstadt 98 for the second half of the season. In which his 2 goals and 4 assists helped his team to avoid relegation at the end of the season.
After a relatively successful loan spell in SV Darmstadt 98, Ji once again returned to FC Augsburg, where his playing time was also limited due to the stiff competition. Despite making 19 appearances, Ji only accumulated under 900 minutes league action, scoring 4 goals and registering 1 assist in the process. On May 2019, Ji was announced that he would join fellow Bundesliga side, Mainz 05 for the upcoming season. However, until the time of writing, Ji was still yet to make his Mainz 05 debut in all competition.
Verdict
Disappointment Rate: 7.5/10. When you see the likes of Son Heung-Min blossoms at the top level of European football and you could not even get yourself a game time in Mainz 05, you know your career went wrong someway. Still 29, hopefully, Ji will get his one last hurrah in Europe.
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