Oh Hyeon-gyu appears to be in a transfer stand off with his club, Suwon Samsung over a 2m euros offer from Celtic.
After making three signings ahead of the January Transfer Window officially opening speculation has turned towards Ange Postecoglou adding a striker to his squad.
Celtic’s poor scoring return in the Champions League coupled with questions over the future of Giorgos Giakoumakis has put the spotlight firmly on strikers with the window opening on Sunday.
World Cup striker Cho Gue-Sung has been linked to Celtic for over a month but with no sign of a deal being struck Hyeon-gyu has spoken out of his desire to become Ange Postecoglou’s latest Asian import.
News Navar reports:
The JoongAng Ilbo reported on the morning of the 30th that Celtic made a complete recruitment offer to Suwon to bring Oh Hyun-kyu. He recently sent an official offer letter, and the transfer fee presented to the Suwon club is 2 million euros (2.7 billion won). On the afternoon of this day, the Korea Professional Football Federation held a photo exhibition for the 2022 K-League at Understand Avenue in Seongsu, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, and held a fan signing event for Hyungyu Oh.
In a standing interview ahead of the fan signing event, Oh Hyun-gyu answered Celtic-related questions, saying, “What was reported today is true. It is not common to receive an offer from Europe like this, and Celtic, a prestigious club, gave me a good offer. I think I have a big desire to take on this opportunity.”
Previously, the Suwon club acknowledged that they had received a recruitment offer from Celtic, but expressed their desire for Oh Hyun-gyu to play for about one more season and go out. The Suwon club said through other media, “The players will also have regrets, but I know that they understand the club’s position to some extent.” There was also an article titled to the effect that the Suwon club said, “Oh Hyun-gyu decided to stay for now, and the player understood.”
However, contrary to the club’s explanation, Oh Hyun-gyu had a strong will to advance to Europe. Oh Hyeon-gyu hesitated and said, “I am cautious to say at this place, but when the former club said that such an offer had come, I told the club that I wanted to go and requested a transfer. It was a situation where we were waiting for the club’s position.”
When asked how he felt when the offer came, Hyungyu Oh said, “It was my dream, and it is also the time I have been dreaming of since I was young. When this proposal came, I think I had a strong desire to take on the challenge as soon as possible.”
Postecoglou has Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada and Sead Haksabanovic as other alternatives to play as a striker but to make progress the Celtic boss knows that his side need to improve their finishing in the Champions League.
An own goal, one open play effort from Giakoumakis and two goals from Jota was all that they could manage to score from despite creating more than 50 chances across the six Champions League matches.
With Suwon set to start preseason on 3 January in Geojedo, all eyes are on Oh Hyeon-gyu’s availability amid a pending offer from Celtic. Suwon have already informed Oh that they’d like him to stay for the 2023 season as there’s little time for them to find a replacement for him.
— Steve Han • ??? (@realstevescores) December 31, 2022
I’m confused. Cho is definitely a striker and a good one at that.
I’m not so sure that this other guy is an out and out striker and that is what we need if G.G is going.
could be all paper talk ange on sky saying no offers as yet for any of his players but that could change after today.