In the first season of his transfer, Lee played many games, but his playing time was similar to that of Valencia. As he played 30 La Liga games in the 2021/22 season, he only played for 1,406 minutes. He only scored one goal and two assists on offense and point-to-attack. Up until then, he was good at attacking, but left with regret in defense. He also hit Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid at the time) and was sent off with accumulated warnings.
At the end of the season, as the team struggled in the relegation zone, the team appointed Javier Aguirre to challenge himself to stay. Aguirre recorded two wins and one draw in the last three games of the season, dramatically staying in the top division in 16th place. And Lee Kang-in’s abilities began to grow.
In the 2022/23 season, Lee Kang-in has gained a lot of muscles. As the muscle mass increased, the athletic ability naturally improved, and the activity and defense skills were also developed through the preseason. This was created when Aguirre tailored the team’s basic plan to the 5-4-1 model and conceived a counterattack pattern. Lee Kang-in also needed to participate in the defense and actively covered the same left wingback and opponent.
At the same time, he maximized his ability to dribble and kick left feet in the attack. Notably, he had good teamwork with Muriki. Lee Kang-in’s parcel delivery cross hit the head of Muriki, who is over 190 centimeters tall. The two players were key to the team’s offense, as they accounted for 35 of Mallorca’s 37 goal scored. 파워볼게임
In addition, Lee Kang-in was of great help to the marketing of the Mallorca club. Lee Kang-in had many Korean fans visit Mallorca, and the sales of Lee Kang-in uniforms in Mallorca were unprecedented.
Lee Kang-in started to attract attention from many big clubs last season by scoring six goals and six assists in La Liga. Starting with Atletico Madrid, various clubs such as Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Manchester United (England) approached him.
Atletico Madrid weighed Lee Kang-in and Rodrigo Rikelme, a former youth of his team, but chose Rikelme instead of Lee Kang-in. As PSG (France) approached Lee Kang-in, he took a new step, and as a result, he is currently playing in a PSG uniform.
After Lee Kang-in left, Muriki told a local broadcaster in September, “I can’t compare Lee Kang-in to a Mallorca player right now. Because he’s special. A good player I’ve seen is Lee Kang-in. He has talent and potential,” adding, “Everyone confirmed this last season, and he’s in a great team now.”
Lee Kang-in is exuding his presence in PSG as well. Through the pre-season tour for the 2023/24 season, which took place right after his transfer to PSG, Lee confirmed that he is a huge star not only in Korea but also in the Asian market. Lee Kang-in sold a lot of uniforms in Japan. Korea was a natural outcome.
Lee Kang-in proved that he is a good player, not just a marketing player. He has one goal and one assist in six League 1 games this season. He missed six games due to a muscle injury at the beginning of the season and the aftermath of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, but this is the point from the four games he started in all games after his return.
Lee Kang-in, in particular, has displayed a good partnership with Kylian Mbappe, and is working well together. Lee, who is continuing his performance, also showed his loyalty to visiting his former team for the first time by taking some time off. He will take a day off from his visit to his former team and return to his team’s training on the first day of December.