• Home
• /
• Football

South Korea’s Kim seals Saudi switch

South Korea’s World Cup midfielder Kim Nam-il has joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab from Russia’s Tom Tomsk, local media reported on Monday.

The well-travelled 33-year-old, who has played 96 times for his country, will move to Riyadh on a transfer worth 500 million won ($407,000), according to the Korea Times.

Kim, dubbed the “vacuum cleaner” for his tackling and his ability to suck up errant passes, helped South Korea reach the last 16 of the World Cup in South Africa.

He shot to fame during his country’s run to the 2002 World Cup semi-finals when a flood of endorsement offers and outpouring of affection from Korea’s female population led to the media coining the term “Kim Nam-il syndrome”.

Kim has also previously played in the Netherlands and Japan’s J-League.