Jesse Lingard, who became the captain of FC Seoul, expressed confidence in his best performance this season.

On the 13th, the K League 1 2025 Opening Media Day was held. At the event, 8 teams, including Gangwon FC, Gimcheon Sangmu, Seoul, Suwon FC, Jeju SK, Daejeon Hana Citizen, Daegu FC, and FC Anyang, excluding Ulsan HD, Pohang Steelers, Gwangju FC, and Jeonbuk Hyundai, who are participating in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League (ACL), graced the stage.

Lingard attended this event as the captain of Seoul. Last season, when Ki Sung-yong was out due to injury, he showed his will to lead the players on the field and played the game wearing the captain's armband. During that period, Seoul also improved its performance and entered the Final A for the first time in 5 years, so he was fully qualified as the captain.

The media day quotes also showed his dignity as a captain. Lingard said about his determination for this season, "I was glad to be able to finish the season well last year. It was difficult at the beginning. During that time, I gained a strong mentality as a team. This season, I will start with faith and confidence from the beginning, do what I have to do on and off the field, and achieve my desired goal,” he said, giving a standard answer.

When asked about Seoul being evaluated as a championship contender, he said, “It’s just a possibility. I don’t really like talking about whether we can win right now. It’s too far away. The best I can do is to do my best in each upcoming game. Of course, I agree that we can talk about winning when I look at the team, but anything can happen in soccer.”

When asked about his personal goals for this season, he said, “I have personal goals. I always write them down in my diary. I have a big whiteboard at home, and I write down the number of goals, assists, and attack points I want to have on it, and I look at it every morning and draw an image.” However, when asked about specific figures, he avoided answering, saying, “The team winning is more important than my personal goals.”

However, he seemed very satisfied with his physical condition. Lingard, who completed winter training with a specific team for the first time in a long time this season, said, “I’m in the best physical condition I’ve felt in a long time. The practice games I played in Japan helped me a lot. I tried to record more than 11km on the GPS when I played the game, and I think that led to my current good physical condition.”