Player Profile:
- Nationality: South Korea
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 13/01/2003
- Club: Dankook University
- Position: Centre Back
- Preferred foot: Right
Seok-Hyeon Choi stands at 178 cm & has a mesomorph body build. Choi is very fast, over both short distances and long distances – throughout the tournament he was confident in most foot races with the opposition. Choi moves well and possesses good balance, agility and coordination, which he would utilize when defending 1v1 with the opposition. Despite being 178 cm, Choi times his jumps very well for headers resulting in being a threat in the opposition box & defending phases. Despite being strong for his size, he did struggle physically at times with bigger CFs – this is where you would see him adapt his game to adjust to his strengths.
Choi is comfortable in the build-up phase, where he’s comfortable receiving the ball from the goalkeeper and driving forwards with the ball. Choi can be quite passive with his progressive passing, where he’ll typically look to pass towards the pivot, full-back, goalkeeper or his centre-back partner & sometimes play clipped balls over the top of the opposition defence. However, he does have the ability to play through the lines, he normally does this when he’s beaten the press with a dribble. Additionally, Choi does have the occasional miss placed pass in him. Choi does predominantly use his right foot but he is reasonably comfortable using his weaker left. Choi retains the ball well and uses his body to negate any pressure on the ball.
Choi is very strong in 1v1 duels thanks to his physical attributes, he’s able to close them down fast or delay them by matching them along the way. Choi eye’s lights up at times when the ball is played into advanced central midfield positions where he wants to jump on the opposition and win the ball back higher up, In doing so he would expose the backline and leave gaps for the opposition. He was fairly unsuccessful at this type, being turned or out strengthened – this really highlights his lack of patience at times and reading of the game. Other than this Choi reads attacks fairly well and is a good judge of when to time his tackles and displayed a good ability to break up attacks. Likewise, he’s good at blocking shots/crosses by making himself as big as possible, while ensuring his arms are tucked in. Choi uses his body well to shepherd the ball out of play and in defensive scenarios to give himself a greater chance of winning back possession. Overall his defensive positioning is decent and he reads the 6-yard box well whether it’s blocking/intercepting the cutback or heading the ball clear. Choi is excellent at covering space when the defence is exposed and makes a fantastic recovery.
Choi is a really exciting option for a lot of clubs after his excellent tournament. Initially, I was concerned by his height, but he is actually relatively strong in the air due to his ability to read situations and jump well, where he looks to thrive with his strengths. At times I did questions his decision-making when it came to jumping out of the defence rather than helping to retain Korea’s rigged structure. I like the idea of him playing as a defensive RB who moves to create a back 3 in possession, similar to Ben White.