🙌 Manchester United Cult Heroes: Park Ji-sung | OneFootball

Cult hero: a writer, musician, artist, or other public figure who is greatly admired or influential despite varied success.

And with that definition, let us introduce you to former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung.

After being scouted straight from university by J-League outfit Kyoto Purple Sanga, the 2002 World Cup was where Park Ji-sung truly rose to prominence.

He impressed on home soil as South Korea shocked many to finish fourth, with Park scoring a famous group-stage goal against Portugal.

But this wasn’t a Son Heung-min case of every brand, billboard and product needing his face front and centre. This was a quiet, unassuming player who found his niche – and subsequently PSV Eindhoven found him.

Having initially struggled following a series of meniscus problems, Park thrived for PSV following the departure of Arjen Robben and became a mainstay under Guus Hiddink alongside DaMarcus Beasley and Mark van Bommel.

The Eredivisie side reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2004/05 with him as their main contributor – for both goals and assists –and, alongside Andriy Shevchenko, Adriano and Samuel Eto’o, he was nominated as one of Uefa’s best forwards that season. They all lost out to Ronaldinho.

It was then that the call arrived from Sir Alex Ferguson and after a €5m fee was agreed, the South Korea star was off to Old Trafford.

Although critics suggested a far-east marketing ploy was the main reason behind his arrival, Park quickly endeared himself to the Manchester United faithful with his versatility and tireless running.

What made Ferguson’s United so unique was his ability to make the team more than the sum of its parts. Football is a squad game and certain players excel in different scenarios.

So when Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher and Park would start against Real Madrid ahead of Rafael and Nani, fans were confused. But Ferguson always had the last laugh.

The most famous example came when he marked Milan’s Andrea Pirlo out of a two-legged Champions League round of 16 tie in 2010.

Pirlo recalled in his autobiography that Park “rushed about at the speed of an electron … they programmed him to stop me and that was all he was thinking about.”

United won 7-2 on aggregate, with Ferguson revealing in his own autobiography, “When we played Milan with Ji-sung Park in the hounding role, we reduced Pirlo’s strike rate.

“He did absolutely nothing over both legs.”

Not only was Park used as a tactical joker, he was known for scoring big goals too.

He notably found the net in clashes against Arsenal (three times), Liverpool (twice), Chelsea and Milan, further cementing his legendary status among fans.

In fact, United fans lovingly nicknamed him “Three Lungs Park” in reference to his bemusing endurance levels.

The latter stages of his Old Trafford career were unfortunately hit with injury as his influence faded but he was a perfect example of how application can trump talent.

Park was clearly talented to get where he was in the game but consistency is the hardest thing to master in football and he did so with ease, every time he passed those white lines.

And sometimes that’s all you need.