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Cha Du-Ri targets derby date

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Korean bhoy Cha Du-Ri has circled the weekend of October 23-24 in his diary.

That’s the weekend of the first Celtic-Rangers clash of the SPL season with the full-back already upto speed on the importance of the fixture.

Cha is expected to sign for Celtic on Thursday before taking a short break and rejoining his new team-mates for the pre-season trip to North America.

Cha has already been studying English with the Celtic-Rangers match of the season a big attraction in moving to the SPL.

He admitted: “I’m excited about playing for Celtic and living in Glasgow. Celtic are a big club and have a good chance of winning trophies.

“And I really want to play in a Glasgow derby. Even in Germany, people talk about the Old Firm game so to actually play in one would be amazing.

“Also, this gives me the opportunity to play in European competitions, which is very exciting.

“I’ve been taking English lessons and want to live in an English-speaking country. I also considered an offer from the USA.”

Cha has been described as a pacy right-back who can also turn out at left-back. With 50 international caps behind him and having served at four Bundesliga club he should certainly have the pedigree to handle the demands of the SPL.

Despite spending almost all of his career playing Germany Cha failed to make the South Korean squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany despite having been in the 2002 squad that reached the last four of the competition on home soil.

Like his legendary father Cha Bum-Kun he started his career as a striker and has only recently been converted into a full-back.

Cha Senior was voted South Korea’s Player of the Century and was a pundit for Korean television at the World Cup where he refused to cut his son any slack.

He said: “This fellow loves to attack too much and forget his current position,” Bum-kun said of Nigeria’s opening goal against South Korea.

“As a defender now, his main job is defending the team’s goal. Because of his naivety, he has put the team in trouble. If he wants to attack, he should be always ready to track back.

“I will be lying if I say I am not happy (to see him in South Africa). Like every father, I am very happy and proud to see him playing at the highest level of football.

“He is more mature and stronger now. I believe that he has few more good years for the national team.

“It is not easy to be selected and playing in the first eleven in the World Cup. You need not just talent, but also hard work. I am flattered to hear that people back home are saying, ‘there is not only Bum-kun in the Cha family, but also Du-Ri’.”

Fifa’s World Cup website describes Cha as ‘A versatile forward-turned-defender, Cha Du-Ri is a fleet-footed right-back who never stops running as his nickname Autobahn indicates.’

Adding: ‘His eye-catching performance at Korea/Japan 2002 earned him a move to Bayer Leverkusen, and the winger was subsequently loaned to Arminia Bielefeld and then to Eintracht the following season.’

And: ‘Cha is currently plying his trade with Freiburg, and made an eagerly awaited return to the national team last October.’

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