No cap: K League top scorer Joo still yet to get the call for Korea

K League top scorer Joo Min-kyu is yet to earn an international cap. Despite his impressive domestic performance, consecutive national team managers have opted not to give the Ulsan Hyundai striker the nod.

Ulsan Hyundai's Joo Min-kyu celebrates scoring during a K League match against Gangwon FC at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on May 9. [YONHAP]

Ulsan Hyundai's Joo Min-kyu is the K League's top scorer — yet he's still without a single international cap.

While far younger footballers in their 20s have made multiple caps — which players earn when they make international appearances with their national team — Joo, 33, has none.

Joo's goal-scoring skills and positioning have proved mighty effective in the domestic league, where Ulsan currently sits at the top. The Ulsan striker has so far had a prolific season, having scored 15 goals in 31 league fixtures. And it's not a fluke. Last season, Joo was the K League's second top scorer with 17 goals in 37 league matches.

Despite those stats, former national team manager Paulo Bento left Joo's name off the roster over his entire time in charge, which ran from 2018 to 2022 and included last year's World Cup. While Bento was known for some perhaps questionable decisions — Lee Kang-in was famously sidelined despite being, well, Lee Kang-in — that hasn't changed under current national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann, who took the helm in February.

Here are three things to consider.

No room at the inn

Regular striker picks like Cho Gue-sung of FC Midtjylland and Hwang Ui-jo of Norwich City have already shown a convincing performance with the national team, and Klinsmann may not be considering an extra option.

Even if he is, the likes of Oh Hyeon-gyu of Celtic and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers are more likely to be pushed into a more offensive role than a new face brought into the team.

Hwang Ui-jo, right, celebrates scoring a goal with Cho Gue-sung during a friendly between Korea and El Salvador at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on June 20. [YONHAP]

Last year, 25-year-old Cho — formerly of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors — edged out Joo to become the K League's top scorer with 17 goals and five assists across 31 matches.

Cho went on to score two goals in a World Cup match against Ghana in Qatar last November, becoming the first-ever Korean footballer to manage a brace in a World Cup fixture.

That performance allowed Cho to move on to the European stage where he has shown a solid form, having scored six goals in 16 matches.

Hwang Ui-jo, on the other hand, has not shown the best performance at Premier League team Nottingham Forest or Championship side Norwich — where he is loaned out from Nottingham.

But the goals Hwang Ui-jo has scored under Klinsmann — a goal against El Salvador in June and against Tunisia last week — show that the 31-year-old’s goal decisiveness has not waned.

Replacing Cho or Hwang with Joo, who has never played an international match, could thus be a risky decision for Klinsmann who wants to play aggressive football where a striker has to score a load of goals.

Form, but not enough function

Joo’s forte is his flexible movements and positioning skills that allow him to score goals and make assists. Take the June 10 game against Jeju United, which Ulsan won 5-1. He scored with a volley after receiving a ball from a cross and turning around inside the penalty area — displaying exactly those strengths.

The Ulsan striker, however, is not an agile player who regularly breaks through the defense.

Klinsmann’s squad already has the likes of Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and Hwang of Wolves, who can beat defenders with pace and score on their own.

Korea's Son Heung-min, left, trains with Hwang Hee-chan at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on June 18 ahead of a friendly with El Salvador. [NEWS1]

The win against Tunisia last week showed that Klinsmann's squad has a bit more depth than previously though. With Lee Jae-sung and Hwang In-beom to call on as stalwarts in the center and Lee Kang-in and Hong Hyun-seok able to create space and score goals, it's difficult to see exactly what Joo can bring to the table that the Taeguk Warriors don't at least theoretically already have covered.

Joo has also been inconsistent with scoring, as he failed to manage a goal in five consecutive matches from July 12 through August 12.

Testing out a striker whose forte does not outshine the regular picks is really not an option for a national team manager, especially one under the scrutiny that Klinsmann gets after his especially rough start in Korea.

Age is just a number

Joo’s age is another factor that makes it difficult to see him joining the national team at this stage in his career. He scores a large number of goals despite being 33 years old, but it is unclear how long he can maintain that form in his mid-to-late 30s, when most footballers’ performance begins to decline.

In order to be a national team regular pick, a player needs to have the potential to improve further so the manager can have the best possible squad for international tournaments.

Picking him as a temporary replacement for other players is an option, but considering his form will likely decline in the next few years, making him a regular pick may not be the best long-term plan.

For the October friendlies, Klinsmann called up forwards Cho and Hwang Ui-jo again, in addition to Oh of Celtic and Jeong Woo-yeong of VfB Stuttgart. Oh and Jeong are both in their early 20s and have multiple caps already — not to mention that Jeong was the top scorer at the Asian Games just over a week ago.

As the two young stars have more time to develop as footballers, Klinsmann is highly likely to continue to utilize them over Joo.

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