Bae Jun-ho's arrival should give Stoke City plenty of options

New Stoke City signee Bae Jun-ho will bring agility and versatility to the Championship side, with the skills he honed as a selfless playmaker with K League side Daejeon Hana Citizen since his pro debut last year.

Daejeon Hana Citizen's Bae Jun-ho, front, in action during a K League match against FC Seoul at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on July 1. [NEWS1]

New Stoke City signee Bae Jun-ho will bring agility and versatility to the Championship side, with the skills he honed as a selfless playmaker with K League side Daejeon Hana Citizen since his pro debut last year.

The 20-year-old’s transfer from K League side Daejeon Hana Citizen to Stoke came after he displayed a good performance at the U-20 World Cup this year, where Korea reached the semifinals.

Bae’s style of play is similar to Hwang In-beom of Olympicaos as he moves forward and leads the attack with tidy passes. He is also active in defense, snatching the ball in midfield to start counter attacks.

His forte is his agility when receiving or dribbling the ball, which boosts the team’s attacking speed and keeps the momentum going.

That versatility was visible even before his pro debut, but it became more apparent after he made his debut with then-K League 2 side Daejeon in 2022. Since then, he has reduced the amount of unnecessary touches and has developed the ability to create space and make good passes to move the ball forward.

While Bae’s altruistic play on the pitch helps the overall build-up of Daejeon, his ability to keep the ball when surrounded by opponents has also been noticeable in the K League this season.

He constantly makes proactive movements when he has the ball and counters pressure, which he showed during Daejeon’s match against league leaders Ulsan Hyundai on April 16. Multiple Ulsan players tried to snatch the ball from Bae at the same time, but he displayed some fancy footwork to subvert the pressure and made effective passes for his teammates, which led to a 2-1 victory for Daejeon.

Bae is not a typical goal scorer for Daejeon despite occasionally playing as a winger, but he did manage his K League debut goal against Daegu FC in July with a header from a free kick.

His second goal for Daejeon, against FC Seoul earlier this month, reflected what he is capable of in attack.

After a quick run outside the penalty box, Bae smashed in a shot with a tidy one-two, displaying how he can create space to produce goal-scoring opportunities.

Bae’s performance in the K League also earned him a spot in Team K League — a team formed for the sole purpose of playing an exhibition preseason match against Atletico Madrid in July. Team K League unexpectedly won the match 3-2 and Atletico manager Diego Simeone praised Bae’s performance after the game.

Once Bae joins Stoke, he will likely bring more agility to the squad but may also improve his attacking style, depending on what position he mainly plays in.

Whether he will make his debut this weekend remains to be seen, as Stoke has yet to officially announce the signing.

Stoke has two wins and two losses to take 10th place on the Championship table. The midlands club will be back in action on Saturday as they take on Preston at home at Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]