Ji-sung Park, the player who was among Sir Alex Ferguson’s best signings and biggest regrets

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It has been 20 years since Ji-sung Park joined Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven.

For those of you who don’t remember Ji-sung Park from his playing days at Manchester United, he was vastly underrated by many, despite being a crucial cog in Sir Alex Ferguson’s machine.

Park was United’s number 13 and spent seven years at Old Trafford, winning four Premier League titles, one Champions League, three League Cups and the Club World Cup.

Written in the history books as one of the best footballers to come from South Korea, it now seems ridiculous that Ferguson was questioned as to the motives behind signing Park in 2005.

Park was renowned in world football after establishing himself at PSV Eindhoven as well as South Korea in the 2002 World Cup, yet journalists questioned whether there was a commercial element to the Reds luring one of Asia’s rising stars.

The critics were made to eat their words as Park would become one of Ferguson’s best-ever signings, after costing a mere £4 million.

Paul Scholes raved about Park’s influence under Ferguson after partnering the Asian star in midfield.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s one big regret with Ji-sung Park

In terms of Park’s character, Ferguson couldn’t ask for a better professional.

Park was a superstar who opted to shun the limelight and prioritise his playing career. In many ways, this is what Ferguson wanted David Beckham to do before the England international left for Real Madrid in 2003.

The South Korean was a hard-working, committed professional with plenty of technical ability to rival the best players in the world.

Ferguson made the difficult decision to drop Park from his squad for the 2008 Champions League final, which he admitted was a regret in an interview with MUTV years later.

“It was a really great bunch of players with a great attitude about them and a good, strong squad,” Ferguson said.

“My problem in the 2008 final, maybe I even regret it to this day, was I left Ji-sung Park out completely in the final.

“He’d played such a great role and that’s the problem when you get to these finals. No player deserves to be left out of the final.”

While it was a blow for Park, United went on to beat Chelsea to be crowned champions of Europe.

It may have taken from the celebration, but a player of Park’s professionalism would have seen the bigger picture after watching United beat Chelsea on penalties.

What did Park say about Champions League final axe?

Park didn’t just accept Ferguson’s decision and has been open to how it left him disappointed.

Throughout his time at United, Park was used in the biggest games under Ferguson, but that wasn’t the case in 2008.

Owen Hargreaves started the final in Moscow and Park was left out of the squad, which tells you how much quality and depth Ferguson’s squad had that season.

Speaking to the UTD Podcast years later, Park said: “I couldn’t believe it. I realised, when I got to the stadium, into the dressing room, I saw that there wasn’t my shirt.

“Then I just go ‘oh, I’m not in the squad today’. I don’t know how I can say it, I was very, very disappointed. All my family was there, my whole country was looking for that because I played the semi-final. They were expecting that I would play the final, even probably on the bench. But I wasn’t in the squad.

“There is no choice as a player if you’re not involved in the squad. It’s the manager’s decision and you have to follow it. He explained he was going to play Owen Hargreaves because he had the experience of the final of the Champions League. I was thinking ‘I won’t have it, if I don’t get it’ But it’s his decision. I can’t complain about that and then, actually, we won the Champions League. So his decision is right.”