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The deadline for a decision is imminent... "The Hog is active in the world's best league." It will be difficult to recruit The Hog

Whether to replace Yelena (196 cm), a foreign player of Heungkuk Life Insurance, has emerged as a pressing issue. Whether it is replacement or continuous companionship, the time to come to a conclusion is imminent.

Yelena has recently fallen into a deep slump. Furthermore, controversy continues over her attitude in the game. She often gets annoyed with fellow players with discontent expressions or does not pay attention to the coach's instructions during matches.

Commentators on women's volleyball even strongly criticized Yelena's poor performance and attitude during the broadcast. Some Heungkuk Life Insurance fans started raising funds for truck protests demanding replacement of Yelena.

In fact, Yelena is the most sluggish among foreign tryouts for the seven female volleyball teams in the V-League this season. She ranks among the lowest among foreign tryouts in all major indicators such as scoring, attack efficiency, and attack success rate.

However, he is paid 300,000 U.S. dollars, which is the highest annual salary among foreign female volleyball players. He is the only player who renewed his contract with the same team after the last season. Foreign players who try out for female volleyball receive only 250,000 dollars because they do not meet such requirements.

Elena at the bottom of key indicators... 'Missing foreigners' when it matters

Notably, Yelena ranks sixth among foreign tryout players in the "attack efficiency" category, which is an indicator that most accurately evaluates a striker's substance. She has 26.08 percent attack efficiency. The figure is similar to that of Yasmin (25.92 percent).

As of Tuesday morning, Kim Yeon-koung ranks first in the women's attack efficiency category in the V-League. She is also overwhelmingly No. 1 in attack efficiency. She has 36.23 percent of attack efficiency. She is followed by No. 2 Kang with 33.10 percent, No. 3 Abercrombie with 31.60 percent, No. 4 Silva with 29.83 percent, No. 5 Moma with 29.53 percent, No. 6 Jia with 28.45 percent, and No. 7 Bukirich with 26.72 percent.

High attack efficiency means that the attack success rate was high, but the number of points that were blocked or contributed by mistake to the opposing team was also low. On the other hand, low attack efficiency was due to the fact that many points were donated to the opposing team. In terms of simple attack success rate, Yelena is the lowest among foreign tryout players at the 7th place.

There are some parts that are harder to understand. Yelena attacks in an advantageous position over foreign players on other teams. This is because she usually attacks in front of short-handed domestic players on the opposing team according to the team's rotation. On the other hand, Kim usually attacks in front of tall foreign players on the opposing team, or even moves frequently to block them.

Nevertheless, the team was often in trouble as Yelena failed to score when she was at an avant-garde and at important moments. Therefore, when Kim Yeon-kyung was at an avant-garde, she was leading by three to seven points, and when Kim Yeon-kyung went down to the rear, she was reversed by consecutive runs.

"Lonely Terminator" Kim Yeon-kyung... Worried about overloading her stamina

It is also worrisome that Elena's sluggishness intensifies as she continues to play. The most recent game, Heungkuk Life-Korea Expressway Corporation, left the worst record of the season on the 12th.

Yelena's attack efficiency was negative (-). The figure was shocking. She scored only eight points. Given the nature of the V-League, if a foreign player scores eight points and has negative attack efficiency, it will be impossible for her team to win the match. Rather, it is highly likely that Korean players, who replaced Yelena with Apogit, scored far more points.

Nevertheless, Heungkuk Life Insurance defeated Korea Expressway Corporation 3-1 in set score. This was due to Kim Yeon-koung's outstanding performance, which more than offset Yelena's poor performance. With 28 points, Kim Yeon-koung scored the most points in both teams. Her offense efficiency was 50 percent and her offense success rate was 56.25 percent. Raina, an Asian quarter player, also scored 20 points and showed 22.73 percent of attack efficiency.

If this continues, however, she risks overloading. Although Kim is 36 years old, she is stronger than players in her early 20s, but if she continues to "drag and drag" everything by herself, including offense, defense, and raising players' morale, there is no guarantee at the end of the regular season and the postseason. Kim's physical decline is bound to be the biggest concern for Heungkuk Life's winning goal.

In the end, Heungkuk Life Insurance coach Avondanja also admitted at a press conference right after the match on Wednesday that he could no longer defend Yelena's sluggish performance. "If Yelena plays like this, I have nothing to say. Foreign players should not have negative attack efficiency," he said.

As a result, not only volleyball experts but also fans have recently become popular, saying, "If you continue to accompany Yelena, you will not win Heungkuk Life." As some media reported, Heungkuk Life Insurance is also known to be continuing to search for alternative foreign players behind the scenes.

There's a player who plays well in the world's best league. That's why it's harder

Some say that the reason why they cannot decide to replace Elena is that none of the players who failed in the tryout of this season's V-League was better than Yelena. However, this is completely untrue.

One of the players who failed to make the nomination is Carly DeHoog, who is currently performing outstandingly in the world's top league. It is Carly DeHoog.

Der Hoog was born in 1994, and he is a 194 centimeter-tall left-handed Apogit player. He has a strong physique and quick physical movement and strong attack power.

Currently, he plays for Trentino, the top-tier Italian league in women's volleyball. Although his team is the lowest, Duhug has been active as the main striker, ranking 12th in scoring among all players in the Italian league as of Tuesday.

Naturally, it was a major target of recruitment negotiations from the perspective of the Korean team, which had considered replacing foreign players. Ironically, however, it is almost impossible to recruit players because they are "too good."

What's more, Trentino is now a 48-year-old world-class coach. Trentino served as the coach of the Italian women's volleyball team from 2017 to 2023. And he has been Trentino since this season. As his team is currently at the bottom of the league, it is on the verge of being demoted to the secondary league next season. From Daulty's point of view, he has no choice but to strongly reject The Hogg's move to the V-League in Korea.

In addition to The Hogg, some of the players who failed in the tryout are currently playing a remarkable role in the Turkish league and the Greek league. If you do too well like this, it is not easy to recruit because your team does not allow you to go to Korea, not because of the buyout amount.

Director Avondanja is likely to make a final conclusion this week

In fact, these cases are no longer surprising. In the meantime, there have been too many cases where the lowest-ranked foreign players were the best foreign players in every V-League tryout, or among the players who failed to make it, there have been too many cases where they have excelled in overseas big leagues.

The same holds true for this season's V-League. GS Caltex's Silva (33, 191 centimeters), who was ranked sixth, the lowest in the tryout, is performing the best by far. Silva is currently ranked first in four categories of women's score, attack, serve and attack due to time difference. Thanks to strong performances by Silva and Kang, GS Caltex is the only team among the seven female volleyball teams that does not have an Asian quarter player to play.

Now, it is only the decision of coach Avondan, who is the final decision maker, whether to replace foreign players in Heungkuk Life Insurance. Naturally, he has to agonize a lot. This is because we need to distinguish between good and bad as much as possible.

However, the team cannot afford to delay its decision any longer. At a time when Yelena's sluggishness has intensified and public opinion has deteriorated, the team should make a bold decision, be it a replacement or companion. It is no exaggeration to say that this week is the final deadline. The All-Star break period is just around the corner.

The V League will have a 10-day break from the 20th to the 29th. And the All-Star Game will be held on the 27th. Therefore, it is the only period that can minimize the gap if a foreign player is decided to replace. If it is replaced after the All-Star break, it will be a big blow to Heungkuk Life Insurance, which aims to win the championship.

It is inevitable that attention will be drawn to director Avondanja's thoughts.