SEOUL, 27 June — Ahn Jung-Hwan is refusing to return to Perugia, his agent said yesterday, even though the Italian club claims to have patched up a bitter row with the South Korean World Cup hero over his match-winning goal against Italy.

The pinup boy of Korean soccer is instead lining up a move to another European league with clubs in England, Germany, Scotland and Spain all interested, said Ahn’s agent ePlayers.

Ahn is one of a host of Korean players now hoping to secure a contract with a top European club after South Korea reached the semifinals of the World Cup.

But the player is still angry with his former Italian club, said ePlayers.

“He will never play again for Perugia,” said a statement released by the agent. “We will never consider his transfer to Perugia, which mounted a character assassination against Ahn just because he scored against Italy.”

ePlayers said Perugia had failed to keep to FIFA’s rules on extending a contract and was also four months in arrears on Ahn’s wages. His annual salary at Perugia is about $400,000.

Ahn Jong-Bok, chairman of ePlayers, said “Ahn Jung-hwan does not want to go back to Perugia and Perugia has no right to demand him back.

“I sent a message to Perugia yesterday to state our position. The Korean people do not want Ahn to go back to Perugia.”

Perugia’s president Luciano Gaucci launched an extraordinary attack on Ahn after he scored the winning goal in South Korea’s 2-1 win over Italy in the second round of the World Cup last week.

Gaucci said the 25-year-old striker would never play in Italy again because he had “ruined” Italian soccer. “He’ll just have to go back to Korea and earn 100,000 lire ($48) a month.” But Perugia performed a stunning u-turn this week saying it had completed his transfer from South Korean club Busan I.cons. Ahn had been on loan from Busan last season but the deal ends on Sunday.