adminSinger Baek A-yeon’s hit song title ‘If you’re going to be like this, don’t be like this’, a skit came to mind. Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank carried out a trade to bring back setter Lee Go-eun (28), who had been handed over to Korea Expressway Corporation in Gimcheon, as a free agent (FA) compensation player.
Pepper Savings Bank announced the trade on the 2nd and said, “We gave middle blocker Choi Ga-eun (22) the 2023-2024 season rookie draft 1st round selection rights, and Lee Go-eun and 2023-2024 rookie draft 2nd round nomination rights.”
It is a trade that is difficult to understand. If this is the case, it would be better to tie Lee Go-eun to the list of protected players in the first place. Sit and take a loss.
After going through the rookie draft in the 2013-2014 season, Lee joined Korea Expressway Corporation, went through Hwaseong IBK Industrial Bank and Seoul GS Caltex, returned to his parent team Road Corporation again in 2020, and transferred to Pepper Savings Bank as a free agent in March of last year.
In Pepper Savings Bank, the lowest-ranked team, Lee Go-eun played an active role as the main setter. In the free agency market, he brought outside hitters Park Jung-ah and Chae Sun-ah, but there was no setter reinforcement. Nevertheless, Pepper excluded Lee Go-eun from the list of players to be compensated for the recruitment of Park Jung-ah.
It seems that it was a choice to protect prospects, but setter Lee Go-eun was lost. If you had to accept the fact that Lee Go-eun could be taken away, it would be an acceptable choice. However, bringing Lee Go-eun back even while writing a trade card can only be said to have been complacent about the choice of the road construction company, so it remains regrettable. 크크크벳
Aside from giving up Choi Ga-eun, you can see how desperate Pepper Savings Bank was for the trade in that it exchanged the 1st and 2nd rounds for next year’s rookie nomination. It is a virtual recognition that not tying Lee Go-eun to the list of protected players was a failure.
Choi Ga-eun is also an unfortunate resource. Pepper Savings Bank was a player who was recruited as a special designation for the new team when the team was founded. The urgent fire was put out by bringing in Lee Go-eun, but a hiatus for Lee, who had been active as the team’s main middle blocker for two years, became inevitable. It is a situation in which Mongolian middle blocker Yeom Er-Hung, who was nominated as the first rookie last season, should hope for a rapid growth.
Kim Dong-eon, head of Pepper Savings Bank, said, “By recruiting Lee Go-eun, we will be able to strengthen the setter operation while adding the strength of a veteran.”