Yang Min-hyeok bagged his first goal on loan at QPR this season but it was just a consolation for the Championship outfit.
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Tottenham Hotspur rising star Yang Min-hyeok became the youngest Korean footballer to score in professional English football on Saturday as he netted a consolation goal for QPR in a 3-1 defeat to Stoke City in the Championship.
The 18-year-old winger is spending the back half of the season on loan at Loftus Road having signed for Spurs on a K-League record £3.3 million agreement from Gangwon FC last summer. Yang remained in South Korea after that deal and only arrived in the UK in December. The forward is yet to make his Tottenham Hotspur debut but was named on the bench by Ange Postecoglou for Premier League fixtures against Everton and Leicester City in January.
Yang has gone on to make nine Championship appearances for QPR and scored his first goal against the Potters, having picked up a first assist against Derby County in February. The winger found the back of the net after 78 minutes having come on as a substitute with his side already 3-0 down.
Yang scored ‘lovely’ QPR goal
The player picked up the ball on the edge of the area and took one touch before instinctively firing across the goalkeeper and into the right hand side of the net. The QPR official website labelled the goal a ‘lovely strike’, which came after a week when Yang made his debut for the South Korea national team.
QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes was hugely critical of his side’s performance after full time and, when asked about the Yang goal, said: “It’s a good goal but it’s far too late.
“As I said, there are very few things that we can take from the game today. We need to make sure we turn the page very quick before the massive game against Cardiff City. We need to be proud of the situation we put ourselves in during winter but the last six or seven games we are far from the level. We need to bounceback as a team and as a club.”
There are high hopes for Yang both at club level and internationally. The forward won the Young Player of the Year award in the K-League in 2024, helping a formerly relegation-threatened Gangwon to a historical second-place finish with 12 goals.
Spurs loanee tipped to eclipse Son Heung-min
To understand the hype around the South Korea international, LondonWorld spoke to Korean football specialist Joel Kim earlier this year. Joel explained: “We want him to be the best he can be and to take Korean football to another level, he’s the youngest player to have been recruited by a Premier League club.
“He’s going to break those records being so young and already making an impact. We are hoping that Son Heung-Min’s ceiling will be Yang’s floor, if he can take Korean football to another level. We’re seeing some promising signs of that for sure, especially with his adjustment to the Championship. We have hopes but it’s too soon to say he’ll be the next Son Heung-min or the next legend. Only time will tell.”
In other news, Tottenham Hotspur have made a 'first time' announcement as North London derby venue confirmed.