Stoke City boss delivers verdict as Bae Junho hits brace amid transfer speculation

Bae Junho showed glimpses of his quality with two goals in a big friendly win for Stoke City in Cork

Bae Junho has come back in fine fettle looking to pick up where he left off at Stoke City, says Steven Schumacher.

Junho, aged 20, was crowned Stoke’s player of the season in his debut year in England, won his first senior international caps for South Korea early this summer – and, thanks to those eye-catching performances, has seen inevitable whispers of transfer interest from clubs such as Feyenoord.

He told the Korean press that he was determined to add big match-changing moments to his game this season as the next step in his development, and he demonstrated his eagerness to do that with two goals in a 5-0 friendly win at Cork.

The first saw him burst inside to link up with Wouter Burger and fire into the net with the help of a deflection. The second was a calm finish from close range after good work on the opposite flank by Andre Vidigal.

Schumacher told Radio Stoke: “He looks sharp. He was quiet for probably the first 20 minutes of the game and didn’t have as many touches of the ball as we would have liked, but he sprung into life and got his two goals, took them really well and got into a few other decent opportunities as well. He’s a top player and it looks like he’s come back in really good shape and is enjoying what he’s doing.”

Burger got the first for Stoke and Junho’s double made it 3-0 by half-time. Sol Sidibe and Daniel Johnson completed the route after 11 changes at the break.