Season Review · Part 9
Season Review, Part 9: Lee Ju-hyeok, the Young Presser Who Keeps the Bench Open
A goal and an assist against Suwon FC, a penalty won for Euller's hat trick, a red card at Asan and ten starts at 22 under the U-22 rule: what Lee Ju-hyeok has given Seoul E-Land, what he still has not, and where he fits in the last six.
Part 8 covered Kim Hyun, the veteran who comes on to aim for heads. Part 9 is his opposite in almost every way: a 22-year-old, 176-centimeter winger in his first full professional season, who starts matches so that other people can finish them. Lee Ju-hyeok has been one of Kim Do-gyun’s most-used young players, and his year is a good measure of what that role asks and what it gets.
The season in one paragraph
Lee Ju-hyeok joined Seoul E-Land in June 2025 as a rookie free agent from Sun Moon University, where he had started in a four-trophy season, and scored on his professional debut at Ansan that July with a scissor kick from Euller’s cross. He finished 2025 with two goals in 15 league matches. In February he told Ilgan Sports that “this year we go up, no question,” named ten attacking points as his target, and picked promotion over the Young Player award because “the team comes first.” Through Round 27 he has 18 appearances, ten starts, 869 minutes, one goal and one assist. The goal and the assist both came against Suwon FC. He also won the penalty that completed Euller’s hat trick, and he was sent off at Chungnam Asan in May. Born in June 2004, he counts as an under-22 player, which matters more in K League 2 than it does in the top flight.
By the numbers
| 2025 (half season) | 2026 through Round 27 | |
|---|---|---|
| Appearances, starts | 15 | 18, 10 |
| Minutes | 869 | |
| Goals | 2 | 1 |
| Assists | 0 | 1 |
| Penalties won | 1 | |
| Shots | 12 | |
| Chances created | 7 | |
| Dribbles completed | 5 of 21 | |
| Tackles, interceptions, recoveries | 7, 5, 23 | |
| Fouls won | 14 | |
| Pass accuracy | 81 percent | |
| Cards | 1 yellow, 1 red |
He has not played 90 minutes in any league match this season. His longest outing was 77 minutes at Seongnam. Advanced numbers are FotMob’s.
What he has done well
He showed up against Suwon FC, twice. On April 4 at Mokdong, in the match the Korean press called the Kim Do-gyun derby, Kim Oh-kyu hit a long ball, Oh In-pyo took it first time from the right, and Lee finished with his right foot on 16 minutes. Seoul won 3-0 and handed Suwon FC their first defeat. Afterward Kim Do-gyun called him “a player who helps the team a great deal,” one who had “not yet shown explosive scoring as a forward” but had “a lot of running and the fight to do the dirty work,” and praised his attitude in training. In July at the Suwon Sports Complex, with the score 1-1, his cross found Oh In-pyo arriving unmarked for the header that put Seoul ahead. Both of his goal involvements came against the side now level with Seoul on points.
He presses from the front. The Sports Chosun description of that April win was of a “heavy metal” press, with Lee and Kang Hyeon-je on either side of Park Jae-yong squeezing Suwon FC’s defense from high up the pitch. That is his job in Kim Do-gyun’s system, and the numbers for a winger are respectable: 23 recoveries, seven tackles and five interceptions in 869 minutes. When he was withdrawn at Seongnam on 77, the broadcast’s comment was simply that he had run a great deal.
He draws fouls in the box. Against Ansan in August he came on for Ahn Joo-wan on 57, took Son Hyuk-chan’s forward pass, and was pushed over by Im Ji-min. Euller scored the penalty for the first hat trick of his K League career. Fourteen fouls won in 869 minutes is the output of a winger who runs at people even when the dribble does not come off.
He makes the bench work. In K League 2 the under-22 rule survived the 2026 reforms that scrapped it in the top flight. A side that uses no under-22 player can make only three changes. One under-22 starter gets it to four, and an under-22 starter plus an under-22 substitute gets it to five. Kim Do-gyun is a manager who wins matches with his changes. Against Daegu, Lee started, Ahn Joo-wan replaced him at halftime as planned, and Seoul used all five.
Where the same mistakes keep showing up
The red card at Asan. On May 9, with Seoul already two goals down, Lee was playing wing-back in a 3-4-3 when Denilson broke behind him on a counter and went down under his challenge. The assistant had raised his flag for offside. The referee went to the monitor, overturned it, and gave a penalty and a straight red for denying a goal-scoring opportunity. Kim Jong-min scored it for his hat trick, Seoul lost 3-0, and Lee was suspended for the Yongin draw. He was out of the side for the next three matches as well, and did not return until Gimhae in July.
The end product. One goal from 12 shots. He said himself in February, looking back at 2025, that he had had many chances and not taken them, and that making “the best possible choice on the pitch” was what he had to improve. The same thing has shown up again. Five completed dribbles out of 21 and five accurate crosses out of 18 are not the numbers of a winger who beats his man and delivers. Two goal involvements against a target of ten is a long way short.
Early substitutions. Of his ten starts, three ended at halftime and none went past 77 minutes. Part of that is design: he is the player Kim Do-gyun takes off when he wants Ahn Joo-wan’s pace, Gabriel’s directness or Park Jae-yong’s height. Part of it is that he rarely does enough in the first hour to make the change difficult.
His strengths, and what they mean for the last six
He is the under-22 starter who frees the bench. Kim Do-gyun has said the substitutes need to score more, because goals scored could decide second place. A starter who presses for an hour and satisfies the rule, followed by Ahn Joo-wan and a full set of five changes, is the structure that produced the win over Daegu, and the obvious template for Gimpo on October 9.
A clean slate at Asan. Chungnam Asan come to Mokdong in Round 33. The last time he faced them he was playing out of position and was sent off. On the wing, where he started against Daegu and at Seongnam, he has looked far more at home.
Running against tired legs. He has come off the bench eight times. Against Gimhae, Yongin and Gyeongnam, all likely to defend deep, his work rate and willingness to run into the box late is a useful weapon for the last 20 minutes.
The verdict at Round 27
Lee Ju-hyeok has been a useful young squad player in a side that needs them, and not yet more than that. The Suwon FC goal and assist, the Ansan penalty and a pressing role his manager has praised in public are a real contribution. So is the rule that lets Kim Do-gyun use his bench in full. The red card at Asan, the modest shot output and the absence of a single 90-minute appearance are the other half of the ledger.
Grade so far: C plus. A dependable, hard-running rotation winger whose starts make Seoul’s substitutions possible. The final ball and the finishing need to arrive before the grade moves.
Match log
| Round | Opponent | Result | Role | Goals | Assists | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suwon Samsung (A) | L 1-2 | Sub | |||
| 2 | Gyeongnam (H) | W 1-0 | Start, off halftime | Triple change at the break | ||
| 4 | Cheonan (A) | D 0-0 | Sub | For the injured Euller | ||
| 6 | Suwon FC (H) | W 3-0 | Start | 1 | Opener on 16 from Oh In-pyo’s first-time ball | |
| 7 | Paju (A) | W 3-1 | Start, off halftime | |||
| 9 | Hwaseong (H) | L 1-2 | Sub, late | |||
| 10 | Gimpo (H) | W 2-1 | Sub, late | |||
| 11 | Chungnam Asan (A) | L 0-3 | Start, sent off | Red card and penalty after VAR review | ||
| 12 | Yongin (H) | D 2-2 | Suspended | |||
| 16 | Gimhae (A) | W 3-1 | Start, off 56 | First match back | ||
| 18 | Suwon FC (A) | D 2-2 | Start | 1 | Cross for Oh In-pyo’s header | |
| 19 | Cheonan (H) | W 4-3 | Sub | On for Euller | ||
| 20 | Busan (A) | W 2-1 | Start | |||
| 21 | Hwaseong (A) | D 0-0 | Start, off 62 | |||
| 22 | Ansan (H) | W 3-1 | Sub, 57 | Won the penalty for Euller’s hat trick | ||
| 23 | Paju (H) | D 1-1 | Sub, 69 | On for Carius | ||
| 24 | Seongnam (A) | D 1-1 | Start, off 77 | Shot deflected, Gabriel replaced him and scored | ||
| 25 | Chungbuk Cheongju (A) | W 2-0 | Sub, 79 | On for Euller | ||
| 26 | Suwon Samsung (H) | L 0-1 | Unused substitute | |||
| 27 | Daegu (H) | W 2-1 | Start, off halftime | Cross led to Euller’s disallowed goal |
Statistics from the K League record and the club site, with match detail from the season’s digests and Korean match reports. One correction to earlier digests: against Gyeongnam he came off at halftime in a triple change, not after an hour. Part 10 follows.