Brentford faced Watford at Vicarage Road in Watford, England, on Sunday, and the game was tied 1-1. Kim Ji-soo started as the starter. Kim allowed a run, but it was more due to Mark Fletken’s ridiculous play than to his defense error. Kim was absent after playing only the first half. Kim received an opportunity to play in a friendly match in England following the Portugal tour, raising expectations for the next season.
Kim Ji-soo has been called the future of Seongnam FC’s defense in Poongsaeng High School. Born in 2004, Kim revealed his potential early on, and joined pre-season training led by then coach Kim Nam-il and trained with his elder brothers. During the 2022 season, when Seongnam was suffering from a tight lineup of center backs, it secured a chance to play and displayed talent by blocking foreign strikers, drawing attention.
After joining the K-League All-Star team, he played in a friendly match with Tottenham Hotspur. He became a regular player in the national team by age group and started to be called the “second Kim Min-jae.” Several overseas clubs showed interest in the team, and Kim Ji-soo went to Brentford. Brentford is famous for recruiting young talents from all over the world, giving them opportunities, and actively utilizing them.
During the last season, Kim Ji-soo played as the starting center back of the B team and was also included in the first team’s roster. Although he did not make his debut, he was able to confirm that he was considered important within the team. After the end of the season, Kim Ji-soo was promoted to Brentford’s first team. Other teams have never officially announced their promotion to the first team, but Brentford has created and maintained their own system, so they announce their official promotion to the first team by selecting only a few exceptional members of the B team.
In a face-to-face interview with Interfootball in June, Kim Ji-soo, who joined Brentford’s first team, said, “I mainly trained in the first team. In terms of ratios, the ratio of training for the first team and the B team is 8:2 or 9:1. It seems like less than a month has passed since training for Team B. He was mostly in the first team and played in the first team from the call-up. I used to work out for Team B, but there are a lot more players in the first team when training is done,” confirming that he was selected as a talent to play in the first team early on.
“Of course, I feel better than before. I feel comfortable and there are many things that have changed. It is not easy to adapt to the situation, and although I haven’t played in actual games yet, I feel much better and more comfortable than before. For Brentford, all 11 of us play defense together and continue to play. He has strength in set piece, and he practices very hard in that training,” he said. “I had to stop Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan, but I thought to myself a lot. They are both very good strikers, but I think they will try to stop them somehow for the sake of their team.”토토사이트 추천
Coach Thomas Frank is confirming his competitiveness by actively using Kim Ji-soo in the pre-season, but he seems to be considering it as a center back option while showing good performance. You will soon see a Korean center back playing in the Premier League.