‘Extraordinary impressions’ from 11-year pro Joo Min-gyu, who became the top scorer in K-League 1 this year First step into the professional ranks as a trainee in 2013. Second top scorer since 2021 “You have to be driven to a cliff to gain extreme strength… ‘I try not to listen to people saying ‘because of me’ The team has lost two league games in a row, but it is my first win… “I want to win my second personal title next year.”
Joo Min-gyu, the top scorer in this season’s professional soccer K-League 1 (1st Division), will challenge for the top scorer for two consecutive years next year, becoming the first Korean player to do so. Recently in the 1st division Joo Min-gyu, who scored 56 goals in three years and was the top scorer twice, may be named to the national team roster announced on the 18th for the first time. It’s of interest. On the 14th, Joo Min-gyu visited the Donga Media Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul and stood in front of the camera holding the K League official ball.
“I will think of my soccer life as always losing 0-1.”
Ju Min-gyu (33, Ulsan), whom we met at the Donga Media Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 14th, said this. “I will continue to do my best with the mindset of catching up at any time,” he said. It was a different feeling for a player who had the best season of the year after his professional debut.
Joo Min-gyu, in his 11th year as a professional, became the top scorer in K League 1 (1st division) this year. He is the second top scorer in his personal career following 2021 when he was a member of Jeju. This year, Joo Min-gyu had his best season, enjoying his first win since his professional debut. Still, he said, “If I think it’s a tie, I become relaxed. Only by being driven to a cliff can extreme strength be revealed. “I will not settle,” he said.
These are words that reveal his history. Ju Min-gyu was not selected by a first-division team in the 2013 K-League draft and joined second-division Goyang (disbanded in 2017). He was also a trainee, not an official player. He earned less than 1 million won a month. Joo Min-gyu remembers the day of his draft as the day he cried the most in his life. He moved to E-Land, a team founded in the second division in 2015, and began to make a name for himself by ranking second in scoring (23 goals) that year. He completed his military service while playing for first division team Sangju Sangmu. He returned to E-Land in 2018 and wore the Ulsan uniform in 2019. However, after losing out in the competition for the starting position, the team moved to Jeju the following year. Jeju was a second division team at the time. Joo Min-gyu, who played in Jeju until last year, returned to Ulsan after four years ahead of the opening of this season.
Joo Min-gyu said, “The team took the lead from the beginning of this season, but personally, I have not played for a very long time. It was a season that felt great. “I thought it would be good for the season to end quickly,” he said. “As I came to a team with a history of winning, I tried really hard not to hear people say, ‘It wasn’t because of me that they didn’t win.’” Competition for positions with former Hungarian national team striker Martin Adam also served as a stimulus for Joo Min-gyu. He said, “Before, I just thought that I had to participate in the game, but now I can accept the given situation more flexibly. “Thanks to my good colleagues, I was able to grow,” he said.
Ju Min-gyu, who regained the title of top scorer in the first division after two years, said, “People are very treacherous. “I was upset last year that there wasn’t a joint top scorer award, but I think that’s why it’s a more valuable award this year,” he said with a laugh. Joo Min-gyu scored 17 goals alongside Jeonbuk’s Jo Gyu-seong (Midtjylland) last season, but missed out on the top scorer title because he played in more games. However, this year, he became the top scorer even after scoring 17 goals in 36 games, the same as Thiago (Daejeon). This is because Joo Min-gyu had less playing time.
Joo Min-gyu completed this year’s game schedule with the Asian Football Confederation Champions League group stage match against Kawasaki Frontale (Japan) on the 12th. Next year, Joo Min-gyu will challenge to become the first Korean player to become the top scorer in the K League 1 for two consecutive years and to win his second team title. Min-gyu Joo said, “This year, our team won the league for the second time in a row, but for me, it was my first win since my professional debut. “I want to win my second personal championship next year,” he said.
Joo Min-gyu was the top scorer in the first division twice, but has never been selected for the national team. Ahead of the Asian Cup to be held in Qatar in January next year, the Korea Football Association will announce the national team call-up list, mainly K-League players, on the 18th. Joo Min-gyu said, “I learned while playing soccer that if you are even 1% short of 100%, you can’t achieve anything.” He added, “I am still not good enough to become a member of the national team, so I will fill each day with earnest heart.” 토토사이트