Bayern Munich Alumni: Jeong Woo-yeong talks through breaking through with SC Freiburg

Former Bayern Munich player Jeong Woo-yeong had to leave Säbener Straße to really break though in the Bundesliga, but even then it was far from smooth sailing.

Jeong transferred to SC Freiburg and had to prove his mettle to get on the pitch for Christian Streich.

“When I started at SC, I didn’t get much game-time in the Bundesliga. Now I can feel the coach has absolute confidence in me. He talks to me a lot, which gives me confidence, even if I make a mistake. Christian Streich has a terrific mix, sometimes he’s strict, sometimes he’s like a father figure,” Jeong said to FCBayern.com. “Bayern and Freiburg are two completely different clubs. I’ve always given everything, but the coach demanded that my tackling improve. At Bayern, it was less about issues like winning the ball and more about attacking play and footballing solutions. In the past, I had a harder time with defensive challenges and transitioning after losing the ball. I want to continue working on that.”

Jeong attributes his loan back to Bayern Munich II in January of 2020 as a catalyst in helping him develop.

“Very, very important. After I hadn’t played that much at Freiburg in the beginning, I wanted to gain more playing experience through the loan spell. But I knew it wouldn’t be easy, because all of Bayern’s young talents play for the reserves. Sebastian Hoeneß told me that if I played like I did when I was previously in Munich, I would be in the starting XI,” Jeong said. “So I gained a lot of confidence and I’m proud that I was able to contribute to winning the third division championship. That was the absolute highlight of my time at Bayern.”

Jeong has three goals in 12 games across all competitions this season for SC Freiburg.