Bae Jun-ho flies to Britain to sign with Stoke City

Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho flew to Britain on Monday morning to sign with Championship club Stoke City, K League club Daejeon Hana Citizen announced Sunday.

Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho waves to fans at Incheon International Airport in Incheon on Monday as he prepares to board a flight with Britain where he is expected to sign with Championship club Stoke City. [NEWS1]

Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho flew to Britain on Monday morning to sign with Championship club Stoke City, K League club Daejeon Hana Citizen announced Sunday.

Bae, 20, has been linked to the second-division English club for the last couple of weeks, with Daejeon and Stoke reported to have agreed terms last week for the deal to go ahead in the next few days. The Korean club told reporters Sunday that Bae would fly the following morning, although Stoke is yet to publicly comment on the deal.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Bae said that making it to a European football club was a dream come true.

“I’ve heard a lot about moving overseas since the World Cup,” Bae said. “But I tried not to focus on it and just wait to see what happens. Even if it wasn’t this summer, I thought that if I was patient enough it would eventually happen.

“I always imagined playing football in Europe. This is like a dream coming true, but I want to think that it’s only just beginning.

“It won’t be easy, but I want to adapt well to England and Stoke City as soon as possible and show a good performance.”

Bae scored two goals in 17 appearances in the K League this season, having spent the last year transitioning from the youth squad to a regular role in the starting XI.

His performance outside of club football has drawn more attention.

An ambipedal attacking midfielder who leans more toward the Hwang In-beom school of playmaking than the more familiar Son Heung-min attacking approach, Bae was a key part of the Korean squad at the U-20 Asian Cup and U-20 World Cup, both earlier this year. He scored a goal and picked up an assist in a round of 16 game against Ecuador at the World Cup.

Bae was also in action in a more international setting earlier this summer when he made it into the domestic all-star Team K League squad cobbled together to face Atletico Madrid in an exhibition game on July 27.

The K League team went on to beat the visitors in an unexpected upset at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul, with Atletico manager Diego Simeone reportedly specifically praising Bae after the game.

When signed, Bae will be the only Korean player currently active in the Championship.

Three Koreans are currently plying their trade in the Premier League — Tottenham captain Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan just down the road from Stoke with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest’s Hwang Ui-jo — with a fourth player, Kim Ji-soo tied to Brentford’s youth team.

The Championship, League One and League Two are all without a Korean player currently, with the only other active professional player in the English system being 20-year-old Lee Suk-jae with fifth-tier National League team Worthing.

Bae is set to join a Stoke side off to a slow start to the 2022-23 campaign, with two wins and two losses to take 10th place on the Championship table. The midlands club will be back in action next Saturday as they take on Preston at home at Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]