Lee Kang-In: PSG's Korean Playmaker

Talent development is a fascinating facet of football, one that feels a lot like a dice game with any possible outcomes regardless of the skillset and talent the player possesses. Many great talents have fallen by the wayside, not because they weren’t actually legitimately talented - even though some might reach that conclusion – but because of specific occurrences that changed their trajectories forever.

All it takes sometimes is one thing and everything else could fall apart. It could be a manager fighting a battle that has nothing to do with you, or an injury that derails you, or a poor performance on the worst possible day. It could be a wrong move or developing in a team not suited to your strengths.

This level of unpredictability and volatility makes predicting future outcomes for a player so much more difficult, and it may be folly to conclusively draw up a definite trajectory for any teenager, regardless of talent. One player who came very close to being part of this statistic is Lee Kang-In, multiple times in fact. Fortunately, one correct decision resolved it all, setting him back on the path to his true potential. 

Lee Kang-In joined Valencia as a 10-year-old and rose through the ranks rapidly alongside Ferran Torres and Hugo Guillamon, receiving plaudits and adulation for his precocious talent. As early as 14, he was seen as potentially a world-class player who would go on to do great things, and the weight of expectation continued to rise as he grew older.