Mainz 05 star Jae-Sung Lee has again admitted he would love to play in the Premier League following links to Crystal Palace last year.
We covered a report from Kicker in March last year that explained Jae-Sung was keeping his options open ahead of that summer after interest from Palace in the January transfer window that year.
The newspaper explained that Crystal Palace had made a bid for the 28-year-old in that year’s winter window, but it was knocked back by then club Holstein Kiel.
They further detailed that Lee had actually held Hoffenheim at arm’s length as he wanted to keep his options open and potentially move to England.
Ultimately Palace never returned for him and he went to Mainz 05 on a free transfer, but his contract there expires next year, meaning he could be on the move again this summer or the German side will risk losing him on a free.
He has insisted that meant nothing specific, but the reality is that this summer is probably the ‘last opportunity to sell’ the player for a ‘handsome fee’.
“I feel very comfortable in Mainz. Nobody can say what will happen tomorrow, so I’m concentrating on the next 14 games here,” they now report him saying on Thursday.
“Everyone has their resolutions. It didn’t have any special meaning. Anything can happen, I can maybe change or extend the contract.
“I feel very comfortable in the Bundesliga, but of course the Premier League is also attractive, especially as my idol Ji-Sung Park used to be at Manchester United.”
The door, then, is very much still open for Crystal Palace to get him should they want to, although that is up for debate.
They were certainly interested last year but weren’t among his suitors in the summer or the transfer window last month either, which would suggest that they might have moved on at this point.
That remains to be seen, but it seems Lee remains open to the switch if it is offered, which certainly sets up the possibility of it happening in future.
