Stoke City legend MIke Pejic runs the rule over transfer interest from Feyenoord in Bae Junho
I am not surprised that the transfer gossip columns have got around to featuring Bae Junho, who is apparently wanted by Feyenoord. He did an excellent job in every role he was asked to do in his first season at Stoke, providing and producing.
What I particularly like about him is that attitude and hunger, a belief that you should never stop improving. He was Stoke player of the year but made it clear that he was determined to add goals to his game next time around. Don’t stop still, don’t rest on your laurels, never be satisfied, there is always some part of your game to work on.
Players who think they’ve got the lot will end up disappointing because they never reach the levels they should for the talent they have and for all his skills with the ball, that enthusiasm to compete and reach a higher level of performance will be the one that carries Junho to his potential.
He has the technical skills to do that and he will keep getting better at decision making. He has to make sure that nine times out of 10 he is coming up with the correct decision. That’s your complete player. He works both sides of the game, attacking and defending, and he understands it well.
Hopefully Stoke can keep him. These are the kind of players, in terms of character and ability, that they need to attract. You have to get a group together like that and if you do that you’re on a winning streak.
It was the wheelchair tennis that blew me away and congratulations to Alfie Hewett, who won the singles and doubles titles. He won the singles final a day after spending three hours coming through an epic semi-final. How he moved around the court to manipulate that ball was incredible and to maintain the level of performance was outstanding. He’s won every grand slam now, a fantastic achievement. “We’ve been through a lot of highs and some lows but no matter how many times you get knocked down you can still get back up and keep trying,” he said. There is a role model for everyone.