Chapter Text
SONG FOR THE ASKING
Song Mingi talks for the first time exclusively for SPORTINGnew
Article written by: K. Yeosang
Back in 2024, Song Mingi made history. A Club World Cup, a Champions League for the second year in a row, and two domestic cups were his crowning to glory after the feat of taking his country, South Korea, to the round of 8 in the 2022 World Cup, something that has not been replicated since then.
No one could have predicted that the summer transfer window, full of rumors of elite player transfers, would be completely overshadowed by Song’s abrupt decision to leave Chelsea Football Club, where he had been since he was a child and later rose to fame as one of its modern-era icons, to sign with Arsenal Football Club, their rival, against which he had often spoken in a negative light. One particularly memorable quote delivered after securing the English cup with a hat-trick, amid flares thrown at him by Arsenal fans was: "That’s what you’d expect from a small team’s fans, they have never known what it’s like to win anything important. Champions of Europe? Not in my lifetime."
Following his departure, Chelsea entered a negative streak. They failed to qualify for European competitions and couldn’t escape the tenth spot on the table for two consecutive seasons. Most players who had been part of that legendary quadruple-winning squad moved on to other teams and leagues, while the veterans retired. All but one: Mingi’s vice-captain, Jeong Yunho.
Jeong remained the leader of the team’s new signings, a group of inexperienced youngsters doing their best to avoid the relegation zone. Meanwhile, Song’s Arsenal came close to achieving their desired Champions League trophy five times, suffering heartbreaking losses in two consecutive finals. Their once intense friendship evolved into a tense rivalry, culminating in a physical altercation during a London derby in the 2024/25 season, resulting in both players’ suspension.
Song never spoke about his time at Chelsea again. The love he had once professed for the club that took him in since childhood seemed to have vanished forever.
So what happened?
The truth is that the story of Song Mingi’s drastic decision begins long before that fateful June of 2024. For the first time, he reveals the mystery, completing the chapter that will mark the end of his era as a star player and the beginning of his journey as a head coach.
In this article, you will find a detailed chronicle of the life and secrets of such a prolific player during his years at the highest level of world football.
Seoul, 2034.
Kang Yeosang reviews his notes while sipping his lemonade, seated by the window at the café as he waits for Song Mingi to arrive for the interview they scheduled here. Saying he’s not nervous would be a lie, but above all, he’s curious. He thinks, for instance, about how San is very close to Mingi, despite always being rivals on the field, yet even he doesn’t know what happened that summer of 2024.
Suddenly, his phone buzzes. It’s a message from Mingi saying he’s nearby and suggesting they meet at his house for the next interview. Yeosang replies with a smiley face emoji and settles in to wait. The last time he saw Mingi was at his wedding a couple of years ago, where Mingi was among San’s guests.
When Mingi finally arrives, Yeosang notices he looks slightly different. His hair is long and blonde, his features have toughened a bit. He looks good, despite everything.
“Hey, Sang, sorry for the delay,” Mingi says, the informal greeting helping to ease Yeosang’s nerves.
“Hey, how’ve you been? Haven’t heard from you in ages.” Yeosang smiles as he stands up to embrace him.
“I’ve been preparing, you know,” Mingi replies, referring to his upcoming debut as a coach.
“I understand, and that’s why I really appreciate you agreeing to this interview.” Yeosang gives him another warm smile. “Please, have a seat.”
“Honestly, if I ever decided to talk about all this, it had to be with you.”
“Oh,” Yeosang whispers, surprised. “Thank you for trusting in my work.”
“We can start whenever you’re ready, Sang.”
“Would you like something to drink?” Yeosang asks, opening his bag to take out his recorder and notebook.
THE STARBOY
Song Mingi began his rise to stardom as part of Seoul FC's reserve team, where he wouldn’t quite reach a professional debut. At sixteen, a video went viral showing him skillfully dribbling past four defenders almost simultaneously before scoring a goal. Despite being filmed in poor quality and in a country where the league wasn't particularly high-level, the video caught the attention of scouts from teams of various ranks. But there was one particular offer that Mingi couldn’t turn down.
SONG MINGI. (Five times Champion's League Winner, Ballon D’or winner, Chelsea FC idol) To play the Premier League was one of my dreams ever since I started playing amateur football. And I've been a Chelsea fan since I was twelve so when my father told me they wanted to sign me I thought he was joking.
MR SONG. I’ll never lie about a thing like this. No one expected it, and it's not that we didn't trust their talent; it's just always been difficult for us. How many successful Asian players can you name?
MRS SONG. I should never have let him sign that contract.
MINGI. It was hard and I was so young, the payment wasn’t a lot so I couldn’t go back to Korea and visit my parents if I wanted, for example. I felt vulnerable during those years, I mean, I didn't even know how to speak the language!
THE MÍSTER. (Chelsea’s coach from 2010 to 2019) I saw him for the first time in a meeting with the scouting team. There are players like that, you watch them for the first time and you know. You simply realize how far they can go.
Song Mingi trained for two years in the team’s youth academy, competing in amateur tournaments his age group qualified for, and at one point winning the Youth Premier League trophy. In less than two months, he had secured a spot in the reserve’s starting eleven. If he wasn’t playing as the central forward, he took to the wings, a position where he was never entirely effective. In his first season, he scored twelve goals and provided three assists; it had been a long time since the team had seen a player so promising.
And for that, he made his first-team debut for Chelsea at eighteen. They only gave him fifteen minutes, coming on as a substitute, but that was enough for him, he scored a goal in his debut as the team’s forward. He quickly earned the trust of the coaching staff, his teammates, and, most importantly, the toughest critics: the fans.
THE MÍSTER. In training, he always listened to what I was saying to him, but he usually ended up doing something completely different. And somehow it worked, I just wish I could have had him more time.
MINGI. I have good memories of playing in the youth team and the reserves. The míster didn’t train us, obviously, but he always came and talked to me. I think of him like a second father, he helped me a lot to adapt. He used to say: “You’ll be one of the best strikers in the world, the best 9 out of them all”, it may sound common but I believed him every time.
R TAYLOR. (Former Chelsea striker) I wanted to hate him, you know. For taking my spot on the team, for being a better player than me, for being younger than me. But now I understand that he was carrying intense pressure from the coaching staff, the media, and the fans. And unlike me, who had my family with me, he was alone.
MINGI. I was intimidated by the fact that everyone in the first team was older than me; none of the other reserve players I used to talk to were promoted along with me. When I was 17 I think, San came and he was my first and only friend at that time. You know him, you know what he did years later, but at that moment, when they were deciding who was going to join the first team and who wasn’t, the sporting director thought that his abilities weren’t enough and started offering him to relegation sides.
CHOI SAN. (Former Chelsea’s U18, captain of the legendary Watford team that won the 22/23 Premier League) It was the first time I thought that none of the efforts I'd put in throughout my life had been worth it. But even then, I never felt envy towards Mingi, despite what everyone became obsessed with saying after I left. How could I? He is my friend.
MINGI. After San left and I joined the first team, it was strange. They raised my salary, I was able to bring my parents over, and I think that helped me a lot because the first year was horrible.
Mingi refers to the 2017 season, his first with the senior team. It didn’t go as well as everyone expected; he had to compete to earn his spot, and the pressure from fans and the media was so intense that the coach decided to protect him by keeping him on the bench. He only came on when the games were already decided, adding the minutes needed to fulfill his contract.
MINGI. Everyone wanted me to replicate my previous stats. They are different levels; in the first team, we had to face established players, which didn’t happen in the reserves. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be the same, but the fans don’t understand that, and I don’t blame them… I was a fan once too.
Mingi got his definitive opportunity after the team's starting forward got injured. However, not everything went as well as it seemed; he failed to score in eight consecutive starts. Normally, no one would care, but it mattered because they were in the middle of a title race for the season. If they slipped up, everything would be lost; one point could make the difference. Mingi missed a one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper, and they lost the league by a point — a point that later became the basis for fans trending the hashtag #1MFLOP on social media.
MINGI. Now it makes me laugh; it’s clever. A million-euro flop [laughs].
SAN. The good thing about being dropped from the club was that I had no pressure playing in the second division; no one expected anything from me. Even so, I had to go see Mingi just in case.
MINGI. You were lucky; San is one of the best people I know. Whenever something went wrong, we would go for a run; the good thing was that he lived an hour from London.
There came a point where Mingi finally earned the spot of main forward, but he was still far from reaching his highest level. He was known for being a multifunctional striker, not only scoring but also creating his own chances.
THE MÍSTER. I wasn’t wrong when I told him he would be the best striker; I was wrong when I wasted two years playing him as a nine. He isn’t the one who finishes; he’s the one who creates.
SAN. Everything started to improve for us until the lockdown hit.
MINGI. I was sad that no one could see, in person, I mean, what I consider my best season.
During the second half of the 19/20 season, teams had to play behind closed doors. Mingi had more time to train; in fact, he spent all day doing it. The coach made a move that was criticized as soon as the official lineups were released for the quarter-final match of the Champions League: he decided to change Mingi’s position. Mingi dropped back and began to connect the defense with the forwards, performing better than expected. Inevitably, everyone who had criticized his rapid rise in the team had to admit they were wrong.
Thanks to his new position, he won individual recognition as the man of the match during a Champions semi-final, receiving his first Ballon d'Or nomination when he was just twenty years old. He competed then against football legends worldwide, and ultimately, that’s why he didn’t win the award. However, it earned him the trophy of Young Player of the Year. The curious thing about these awards is that many times, those who receive them don’t excel in their future careers. Mingi was the exception.
MINGI. The second time I was nominated, everyone said I deserved it more than your husband, but for me, that’s not true. Now they measure success based on how many titles you have; I don’t think that’s important in this case. I mean, San was what, twenty-four? He was too young, and yet he led to a trophy for a team that had just been promoted from the second division, which didn’t even have money for signings.
L. ROUGE (Premier League sports journalist). I had said he was one of those stupid signings Chelsea always makes. Look what happened with that group they signed after Song left, 200 million spent, but one was worse than the other. In the end, Chelsea’s rejects were the ones who had successful careers; look at Song and Choi, they’re from the same generation and also made history at the international level. I find that important too; many of our English players can’t say that!
MINGI. I’m not egocentric; I care more about collective achievements than individual ones, but I enjoyed silencing them all so much.
The 21/22 season looked promising from a sports perspective; they had qualified for the Champions League again, and additionally, in an agonizing match against the Indian national team, they secured qualification to play in the World Cup. For Mingi, 2022 was the best year because besides launching his career, it also brought him what he secretly wanted more than anything else: a friend.
IT’S NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND
During his early years as an important member of the Chelsea first team, Song Mingi appeared to be a solitary player who seemed to only connect with his teammates on the field. That was until someone with whom he would share more than just nationality arrived.
Jeong Yunho was a natural defender and played in Korea until he was 20 years old, then he signed his first European move to Italian club Fiorentina where he was a squad player. While in Italy, he had a good season, his team finished the season in 5th place on the table, qualifying for the Europa League.
MINGI. I remember that moment. When I saw him for the first time, I thought, "There are really people like that, you know?" Charming. He was handsome and kind, and always treated me with what seemed like care. Now I wonder if that was really the case or if my mind invented it out of nostalgia. The thing is, after we met, I never wanted to be away from him again... [pause]. The truth is that sometimes... sometimes I miss him, but we have fallen apart forever.
SAN. When Mingi told me there were rumors that the club was thinking of signing a new Korean player, I knew he would be fine. Back then, the Mingi on the field was completely different from the Mingi you met in training or at team gatherings; that part of him was more laid-back.
MINGI. He would go back and forth on the right wing, defending more than attacking, but whenever he could, he assisted me. Whenever it was time to head the ball, he was always there because he was one of the tallest, and sometimes the goals would go in [laughs].
SAN. I don’t know why Mingi thinks that; they always insulted Yunho for being the worst defender.
MINGI. Memories of that time? The training sessions were quite special; that's when you get to know the rest of your teammates. Once, we had to split into two teams to play a practice match, and that’s when the gaffer figured we should associate more. I think he assisted me the most, right? I read that somewhere.
Q. Do you read about him often?
MINGI. No! I don’t read about him; that was a long time ago when I retired and everyone started posting my stats.
Q. Okay.
MINGI. Yunho always said that when he retired, he would be a coach and that I would be his first assistant. Once he said we could bring San along too if I wanted [laughs]. You more than anyone know that San hates the so-called ‘tacticos’ .
SAN. It’s strange that Mingi also wanted to be a coach; I never thought about that. Even less that he would be trusted to start his career coaching a big team, but I think that only makes it an even more significant achievement.
MINGI. I want to clarify that this decision is not due to my supposed rivalry with Yunho. I'm not as inexperienced as they think; I've been part of the coaching staff at various teams' academies for several seasons.
K HONGJOONG. (Song Mingi's representative) He has kept his life very private since his retirement. The amount of hate that came after what happened in 2024 was excessive.
MINGI. Hate? Let’s not talk about that yet.
SAN. I remembered something! We always met in London when they had time off; Yunho would pick Mingi up because they lived in pretty close buildings and then take him to a Korean restaurant where we used to hang out because Mingi failed his driving test three times in a row and had to try again the following year.
MINGI. That was quite embarrassing! But it’s true; he had to take me to training and also to the hotel when there were matches. That was after the time I tried to take the subway and everything went wrong.
SAN. The chemistry they had on the pitch was because they spent all their time together. Even I noticed that, and I lived in another city!
MINGI. The truth is, I’ve always liked being the center of attention, but when it comes from someone close, it’s such a nice feeling. San knows this, so he won’t feel offended; but back then, Yunho was my best friend.
MINGI. I don’t know why they think we were envious of each other; we never did anything to show that. I felt, and still feel, the deepest respect for him. We lived together probably the best years of our lives; I think even winning so many trophies was the least of it... the real prize for me was his company, having a friend so close. I was so lucky in that aspect.
SAN. Mingi needed a lot of support; the pressure at this level is terrible. One bad game and in social media they are ready to tear you apart, but it’s worse when fans create unrealistic expectations that you can’t meet, especially if they’ve proclaimed you the star of the club.
MINGI. They even called me the heir , the heir to all the club's legends. Legends! I was just a kid pretending to be an athlete at that time. When they said that, I wanted to die.
SAN. These could be seen as sensitive topics, but that doesn’t mean we should keep quiet about them.
MINGI. The problem with so-called wonder kids is that in the end, they’re still kids, with great potential, but they are still being developed! People forget that.
MINGI. In that sense, I found in Yunho someone who could listen to me.
SAN. I don’t want to get in between things, but Yunho started his career being older than Mingi. During his development, he didn’t have to deal with the fans’ obsession with wanting everyone to be stars. That’s why I feel Yunho often underestimated his role in the team; the fans were tougher on him.
MINGI. I always hated that Yunho didn’t really believe he was valuable to the team; the injuries were very hard for him. The way I see it, we would have conceded hundreds of goals if he hadn't been there. If he hadn’t been there, my career wouldn’t have been good because he always assisted me. I owe him so much that I could never finish thanking him and asking for forgiveness... [pause].
SAN. Injuries are inevitable in this career but for Yunho… The opponents would hit him on purpose. And on top of that, he pushed himself too hard, making dangerous tackles and stuff, his ligaments weren’t going to put up with that so much.
MINGI. Whenever he was out, I accompanied him to his medical check-ups because he didn’t want his girlfriend to see him like that.
SAN. The recovery is quite painful; it’s not even the surgeries, the rehabilitation is worse.
CHOI JONGHO. (Chelsea F.C Physiotherapist) Yunho was dealing with a chronic injury. That’s just how it was, he was never going to be at 100%., of course, we didn’t want to tell him that but we couldn’t exactly lie about it either. Fans don’t like knowing they’re paying the salary of someone who is always broken… [pause] Now, I don’t like that word, but you know.
MINGI. It’s easy to think awful things when you have too much free time and people are always cursing at you. And he endured it.
SAN. You see why I was thankful they had each other… so many sad memories but the happy ones were more than the sad ones.
MINGI. Happy? At night, when there were hardly any people left at the training center, we would stay talking in the gym until late. Other times we practiced penalties and then lay on the field talking while looking at the sky.
M JAMES. (Former Chelsea midfielder) They were disgusting; once I found them hugging and rolling around on the grass. Like, why would you do that? Shameless!
SAN. Mingi remembers Yunho as some sort of saving angel [laughs] .
MINGI. He was always so kind and patient with me, he listened to me, and he took care of me. I wanted to be close to him all the time… and maybe I should have shown him my gratitude more. [pause]
Song Mingi covers his face for a moment and then raises his gaze with a gesture that seems to express sadness, the sadness that accompanies the nostalgia of remembering a past that will not return.
MINGI. Oh my god [pause] , oh my god, I miss him so much. I miss my best friend so much.
SAN. In this sport, knowing how to kick the ball is the least of it. There’s more, much more. This insane feeling, this passion, this happiness, the pain… I’ve only felt that twice: the first time when I won my first trophy, and the second time when I met you. I think they felt the same and never realized it.
MINGI. I’ve had a happy life, but those years were the best.
Q. Alright now, please, can we talk about the 2024 season?
MINGI. I guess that’s the only history that matters, isn’t it?