Red Star Belgrade has officially completed the signing of South Korean forward Kim Ye-geon from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, confirmed by the Serbian club on August 24, according to Nogomania.
The 18-year-old has signed a five-year deal and will wear the number 19 shirt.
Red Star won out over Manchester City and Barcelona for the teenager’s signature, according to B92, largely on the strength of what the Belgrade club could offer on the pitch. Both City and Barcelona were reportedly planning to send Kim out on loan or into their reserve setup immediately, while Red Star offered a direct path into first-team competition, a decisive factor for a player just beginning his senior career. The transfer fee is reported at $500,000, with Jeonbuk retaining a 25 percent sell-on percentage on any future sale.
Kim only turned professional with Jeonbuk this year and made his K League debut in July, but he had been attracting European interest since childhood, including a previously reported near-move to Feyenoord’s youth academy, according to STARNEWS. His former youth coach at Cheongju FCK, Park Jong-hyun, said publicly that Kim needed to leave South Korea to keep developing at the level his talent demanded.
An attacking midfielder capable of playing across the front line, Kim follows a path already carved by countryman Seol Young-woo, whose performances at Red Star helped raise the Serbian club’s profile in South Korea and made Belgrade a more credible destination for Kim’s camp than it might otherwise have been. Red Star’s technical staff, including technical director Marko Marin, had scouted him for an extended period before moving to close the deal.
For Red Star, landing a teenager who had Europe’s two biggest clubs interested and beating them to his signature is both a statement of intent and a resale bet. The club is known for developing and reselling young talent for significant profit, and Kim’s profile, an 18-year-old with senior appearances already on his résumé and genuine Champions League-level suitors, fits that model directly.
Status: The transfer is complete and official. Kim has signed a five-year contract with Red Star Belgrade and been assigned squad number 19. No further steps remain in the deal.
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