Yahoo News Stoke City favourite Bae Junho reveals aims for next season in rare interview
Bae Junho hopes Stoke City can take the form they have shown since the start of March into the whole of next season.
The 20-year-old has played a key role in Stoke’s successful pull away from the relegation zone in the last two months, helping set a standard with tempo, skill and mind set, as well as chipping in with a couple of goals and assists.
Stoke had dropped into the bottom three on February 24 but have since picked up 18 points from 11 games. Only three teams in the Championship – Middlesbrough, Norwich and Millwall – have collected more in that time.
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It has been so congested at the bottom of the table that it still took until Saturday’s 1-0 win at Southampton for Stoke to secure their status in the division, but Junho hopes it will be a springboard for what happens next term.
“This was a very important match for the club – a massive game,” he told Mandol TV, who translated the quotes for the assembled press. “And so we are delighted to get the victory and make sure that we stay in the Championship for next season.
“It was a brilliant feeling for the team to do that for the fans. We still have one match remaining, so we will look to win that as well and make it a very strong finish to the season.
“Recently we have been showing some very good performances and been very competitive in the league. And we feel next season we are ready to push on and try to challenge to get near the play-off places and make an attempt to get into the Premier League.”
Stoke bring their season to a close at home against Bristol City next Saturday, kicking off at 12.30pm.
