Birmingham City star's 'transfer offer from Stoke' and boss 'even crazier' than Narcis Pelach
Birmingham City star Paik Seung-ho claims he had an offer to join Stoke City last summer before being convinced to stay by Chris Davies.
The South Korea central midfielder was among the stand-out players at clubs relegated from the Championship, alongside Rotherham United keeper Viktor Johansson, and he has told press back home in Seoul that Stoke came calling, as well as Norwich and Sheffield, although it’s not confirmed whether that’s Wednesday or United.
But the 27-year-old, who had coincidentally previously worked under Narcis Pelach at Girona, has ended up being a key player at St Andrew’s as Birmingham spent £20 million-plus rebuilding to try to get back into the Championship as quickly as possible.
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“I thought I would definitely leave,” he said in an interview with Naver Sports, translated by KNTFootball.
“But the manager (Davies) is so good. I kept fighting with myself internally. ‘If you play in a better league, won't you be able to go to the national team?’ And the other half was, ‘Under this manager, can't you really develop more as a player while playing the football I like and learned?’ I received offers from Sheffield, Norwich, Stoke, etc.
“If I had spoken strongly, they would have let me go. At first, the manager said, ‘If you don't think about staying here or don't think you'll give your best, tell me. I'll definitely let you go.’ In fact, all the players who felt that way left. But I thought this manager was too good to pass up. If I had transferred, I wouldn't know what kind of football the manager there would play. It was really stressful. In the end, I decided to stay, and I'm really, really satisfied. Really.”
He added: “I felt like if I stayed here, I wouldn't be able to get national team call-ups. But in my first meeting with manager Davies, he told me, ‘You're a really important player this year.’ He also said that he had offers from the Premier League. But he came to Birmingham because he wants to play winning football.
“The owner has changed now too, and the club's future is bright. He came because he wants to build a great team, and he wants me to be a part of that process. He asked me to trust him and stick with it. He said that to me. The manager helped me a lot with my contract renewal too.”
Stoke’s manager at that time was Steven Schumacher but Seung-ho had enjoyed his time under Pelach with ‘a crazy work ethic’ in Catalonia.
He said: “When I was at Girona B, I had a coach called Chicho from whom I learned a lot. He was a truly insane person. He was a Norwich coach, Stoke manager, and is now a West Ham coach.
“But someone even more extreme than him has come (in Davies)! There's nothing that's just done casually, whether it's the pre-game meeting or the training schedule. At first, the manager told the players, ‘There is really no one in the world who works as hard for you guys as I do. I'm really proud of that,’ and what he said was true. He's really, really passionate."
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