At the tender age of 18, Gangwon FC forward Yang Min-hyeok has set South Korean football on fire this year as a dynamic offensive talent with seemingly unlimited potential.

While still in high school, Yang checked off yet another box on Monday. He was named to the senior national team for the first time, with South Korea scheduled to play Palestine on Sept. 5 and Oman on Sept. 10 to begin the third round of the Asian qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In this file photo from July 31, 2024, Yang Min-hyeok of Gangwon FC (L), competing for Team K League, walks alongside Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur following their exhibition match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)

In this file photo from July 31, 2024, Yang Min-hyeok of Gangwon FC (L), competing for Team K League, walks alongside Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur following their exhibition match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)

By putting Yang on his 26-man squad, head coach Hong Myung-bo made a decision that had seem
ed like a foregone conclusion for some weeks.

Yang burst onto the South Korean football scene this spring, becoming the youngest player to score in league history before turning 18.

Gangwon had Yang signed to a semi-pro deal at the start of the season but converted it to a full professional contract in June. He has won four consecutive Young Player of the Month awards, and for July, he was voted the Young Player of the Month and the Player of the Month, while also winning the Goal of the Month award. He is the first player to nab all three honors in the same month.

At the end of July, Tottenham Hotspur announced their signing of Yang to a deal that runs until 2030. Yang will finish out the K League 1 season with Gangwon and join Spurs in January 2025. He is the youngest South Korean player to sign for a Premier League side.

With eight goals and five assists, Yang has the fifth-highest goal total and third-highest assist total in the K League 1 this season. Gangwon, having never finished above sixth in the
top domestic league, are sniffing the championship trophy for the first time thanks in large part to Yang’s emergence. They have scored more than any other club with 51 goals in 28 matches.

In this file photo from July 31, 2024, Yang Min-hyeok of Gangwon FC (R), competing for Team K League, takes a shot against Tottenham Hotspur during their exhibition match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)

In this file photo from July 31, 2024, Yang Min-hyeok of Gangwon FC (R), competing for Team K League, takes a shot against Tottenham Hotspur during their exhibition match at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Just about four months after his 18th birthday, Yang is the 13th youngest player to be named to the senior men’s team.

In the process, Yang brought current national team captain Son Heung-min, his potential future teammate at Tottenham, down from 14th to 15th place on that age list.

Yang can also break a couple of age-related marks held by Son.

Son scored his first international goal in Janu
ary 2011 at 18 years and 194 days old, the second-youngest player to do so for South Korea.

If Yang scores in either of the next two matches, he will become the second-youngest player to score for South Korea.

Former midfielder Ko Jong-soo owns the record at 18 years and 87 days old.

Son made his senior international debut at 18 days and 175 days old on Dec. 30, 2010, the fifth-youngest to do so. Yang will be ranked fifth instead if he plays in either of the next two World Cup qualifiers.

And even if Yang doesn’t see action in September, he should have more opportunities to crack the lineup in the near future.

Coach Hong said Yang’s relatively sluggish month of August wasn’t enough to dissuade him and his staff from picking the youngster, because Yang had earned his place on the team with his body of work for the whole season.

And what happens after this window of opportunity will be entirely up to him, Hong said.

“I think he has done enough this season to deserve a spot on the national team,” Hong sai
d at the press conference announcing the squad at the Korea Football Association House in Seoul. “I think this was the right time to give him this opportunity. A lot of people have high expectations of him, and I hope he can do some good things for us here. And he will have to keep working hard to earn opportunities beyond this upcoming camp.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency