Brentford have signed Ji-soo Kim from K League Two side Seongnam for an undisclosed fee on a four-year contract with a club option of an additional year, subject to international clearance.

The 18-year-old will join the B-team staff and his new team-mates upon their arrival for pre-season training this week.

Kim joins having made 19 appearances in his debut season for Seongnam following his promotion to the first team in January 2022.

He has also made 29 international appearances across three different age groups for the South Korean national team, most recently featuring for his country in the Under-20 World Cup where they achieved a fourth-place finish. 

Brentford director of football Phil Giles said: “Ji-soo is an excellent prospect who was in demand from many teams in Europe this summer.

“He performed very well at the U20 World Cup recently so it’s a great credit to Lee Dykes and the recruitment team that we managed to sign him.

“We will give Ji-soo all the time he needs to learn English, adapt to life in England and grow into our club in the B team, and like all of our B-team players he will earn the opportunity to train and play with the first team based on his performances.”

The highly rated centre-back rose through the ranks in Seongnam’s youth system before signing a professional contract.

His impressive performances during the 2021/22 campaign earnt him a place in the K League All-Star team which faced Tottenham Hotspur in July 2022 in front of more than 60,000 fans. 

The young defender completed a medical and signed a contract late last week. He will now make the switch to west London where he joins the B team to begin preparations for the 2023/24 season on Thursday.