Park Seung-soo reveals Newcastle target - and the Toon star he plans to emulate

One of Newcastle United's most exciting summer signings hasn't actually kicked a ball for the first team in a competitive game.

Newcastle moved to bring in the highly sought-after South Korean talent Park Seung-soo from Suwon Bluewings just days before the Magpies played at their ground in a pre-season friendly.

Over the summer, the 18-year-old was given a couple of cameos as Newcastle played in his native Korea in a clever ploy to bring more eyes on the club.

It could have purely been a publicity stunt to have the 18-year-old involved, but he actually turned plenty of heads with his displays, and Newcastle fans have been hoping to see him break into the first team this season.

Seung-soo eyeing on first-team football

Park has sat on the bench a couple of times this season, but Eddie Howe has yet to give the talented winger a taste of competitive first-team action.

It may be a sensible move by Howe to give Park plenty of time to find his feet in English football, but the youngster is clearly hungry and has eyes on the first team already.

The talented teenager scored a delightful goal in the 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers for the Under 21s at the weekend, also bagging an assist after setting up Sean Neave for the opener.

"I want more" - Seung-soo on Newcastle target

Speaking to The Chronicle after the game, Park outlined his ambitions, discussing his physical development and desire to hit the heights of first team star Anthony Gordon.

“I’m so proud of my team. Every day in training, we are working so hard and it’s perfect.

"I am so happy but I want more and more practice every day in training. I hope I can quickly play in the first team.

“Physically, I think when I first came I was here (gestures low), now I am here (gestures slightly higher) but I need to be here (gestures even higher) like Anthony Gordon.

"I feel better and I am getting better.”

There are certainly worse players to try and emulate than the lightning fast and energetic Anthony Gordon, and if Park can reach his level, we'll be laughing.

We expect Park to be sent out on loan next season, hopefully to a worthy team that can give him a good taste of high-calibre football, which hasn't exactly been a speciality of our loan manager, Shola Ameobi.

We'd love to see him in and around the first team, but we know by now that Eddie Howe doesn't like to rush these things.