It’s not often you can scroll through the comments of a social media post asking who the most underrated Premier League footballer of all time is without seeing Ji-sung Park’s name crop up at least once.
And yet, the former South Korea international was anything but underrated at Old Trafford. Park spent seven years at Manchester United, making over 40 appearances in both 2005/06 and 2008/09 and only failing to make at least 20 outings in a single season once.
In terms of domestic honours, only the FA Cup would elude Park during his time at Old Trafford. He joined Queens Park Rangers in 2012 having won four Premier League titles and three League Cups, not to mention the 2008 Champions League and the Club World Cup later that year.
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Park made over 200 appearances for United, and in 2021 he told the UTD Podcast how he knew it was time to move on – even though the club wanted him to stay.
“In that last season (2011/12), it was the only time that I missed five games in a row, without any injuries,” Park told the UTD Podcast.
“That signalled to me that [I needed to leave] because I’d always contributed. Without injuries, I’d missed maybe maximum three games in a row, but five is quite tough as a player. So then I think it’s time to leave the club.
“The club actually wanted me to stay and I spoke with Sir Alex Ferguson, but it was the first time I had missed five games in a row without injury. Some of the players probably knew I was going to leave here because of that happening for the first time.”
Park admitted it was tough to leave Old Trafford and that he still has a letter sent to him by Sir Alex Ferguson.
“It was very tough because I’d never been at one club for seven years, this was the first one,” he added.
“And everything was there; friends, families, everything settled down. So I was quite comfortable and it was like home. But I had to decide because I was 31 and it was probably the last time to move and have a contract; it was towards the end of my playing career. It was very, very hard for me to leave.
“Sir Alex Ferguson understood how I felt. He wrote a letter to me, which I still have. It’s quite meaningful. I’m really appreciative of it and I’m really proud of being a United player under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“We didn’t talk a lot face-to-face [when I wanted to leave], he just said ‘good luck for the future, all the best’, and then actually the detail was in the letter, that his grandson didn’t want me to go. We had a great relationship between us and I’m really pleased to have worked with him.”
