In his first season with Paris Saint-Germain, could Lee start from the opening whistle?
PSG will kick off the 2023/24 season with a Ligue 1 first-round home match against Lorient at the Parc des Princes at 4 p.m. on March 13.
With news of Kylian Mbappe’s departure and Neymar’s absence from the team’s plans leading up to the match, many PSG fans have been keeping a close eye on the opening day lineup, and there’s no shortage of interest in whether or not Lee Kang-In, who joined PSG in the summer transfer window, will start.
Initially, it’s unclear if Lee will even be available for the opener. He picked up an injury at the start of pre-season.
He started the first pre-season friendly against Le Havre at PSG’s training ground, Campus PSG, in Poissy, France, just outside of Paris, on August 22. He had an excellent first half, but the bad news came just before halftime when he felt pain in his thigh during a sprint in the 42nd minute and was subbed off with a hamstring injury.
Lee touched his right thigh with his head down, right in front of Enrique. With no need to overdo it in a friendly, Enrique immediately replaced Lee with another player.
Contrary to fears, the injury did not appear to be serious. He was named in PSG’s roster for their Asia tour, and he’s also on the team’s official schedule, so it’s not like he’s going to have to focus on rehabilitation.
However, PSG did not rush Lee’s return. He hasn’t trained with the team since arriving in Japan, spending most of his training time in the indoor training center doing individual work. Even in the open training session before the friendly against Alnasr, Lee was seen greeting the fans before heading straight to the indoor training center.
Ahead of his final match in Japan, against Inter Milan, Lee returned to some team training to improve his chances of playing, and he made his Asia Tour debut in South Korea. 토토사이트
Luis Enrique personally announced his availability ahead of the PSG-North Korea friendly in Busan on March 3, and Lee later came on as a second-half substitute to check his fitness, confirming that he is on track to be ready for the start of the season.
After appearing in the final pre-season game, Lee was also involved in the training sessions leading up to the Lorient game, raising hopes that he could start from the opening day of next season.
As the media and the Ligue 1 secretariat predicted PSG’s starting lineup against Lorient, there was a lot of talk about whether or not Lee would start.
L’Equipe, a leading French media outlet, predicted Lee’s selection. “PSG in a 4-3-3 with Lee Kang-in up front against Lorient,” L’Equipe reported on the expected starting lineup on Oct. 10 (KST).
Leciffe lined up Lee as a left winger in a 4-3-3 formation. According to L’Equipe, PSG’s new coach Luis Enrique will play Lee alongside recent signing Gonzalo Hamus, a Portuguese international.