Birmingham pushes Korean cohort to four as Lee Geum-min joins from Brighton

Korean forward Lee Geum-min joined Birmingham City on an undisclosed deal on Friday, leaving Brighton after four seasons with the south coast club.

Birmingham City announce the signing of Lee Geum-min in a post on the club's official X account on Friday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korean forward Lee Geum-min joined Birmingham City on an undisclosed deal on Friday, leaving Brighton after four seasons with the south coast club.

Lee, 30, moves to Birmingham off the back of 93 appearances for Brighton, scoring 13 goals in the process. She started her career in England with Manchester City in 2019, but saw little playing time with the club.

“I’m really excited,” Lee said in a statement posted on the Birmingham website. “This journey is new for me and I can’t wait to get started.

"I’ve worked with Amy at Brighton and I’m really happy to work with her again. I can’t wait to start playing for Birmingham City."

Lee’s arrival in Birmingham pushes the club’s total Korean cohort to four players, the most of any club in Europe.

Three of those players are on the women’s national team — Lee, veteran midfielder Cho So-hyun and regular goal scorer Choe Yu-ri. If all three stay in Birmingham, that could potentially add to the cohesion of the national team as a quarter of the squad could all be playing together on a weekly basis.

Lee’s move means all Korean footballers currently active in the English women’s leagues play for second-tier Birmingham.

On the men’s side, Birmingham are also home to midfielder Paik Seung-ho, and the Korean professional football community in the area also includes Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan, who is just a short drive away in Wolverhampton.

Birmingham City women have played one game so far this season, beating Sunderland 5-0 in the opener with a goal and two assists from Choe. The team will be back in action on Sunday as they take on Bristol City in a league fixture.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]