A report from Korea has provided very detailed information on Suwon Bluewings transfer fee from Celtic for Oh Hyeon-gyu and the salary that the striker will receive at his new club.
The deal seems to be in its final stages with just the paperwork to be signed off before Ange Postecoglou completes his fourth signing of the January transfer window.
With six signings from Japan the Celtic boss is confident that he can find value and quality in Asia with players of a higher standard than their equivalents in Europe.
Korean site News1.kr reports:
Professional soccer K-League 1 Suwon Samsung striker Oh Hyun-kyu has been confirmed to go to Celtic in the Scottish Premier League (SPL).
An official from Suwon told ‘News 1’ on the 25th, “We have reached an agreement on the transfer of Hyungyu Oh with Celtic. It is at the stage where only the official announcement is left. We are discussing it,” he said.
Celtic has expressed interest in Oh Hyun-gyu even before the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and was active enough to propose a transfer to Suwon four times right after the World Cup.
Suwon initially designated Oh Hyun-kyu as an ‘irreplaceable player’ and rejected Celtic’s offer several times. However, both transfer fees and player salaries have recently jumped to a level that is difficult for the club to throw out, so they have changed their direction and entered into negotiations with a positive attitude.
According to Suwon officials, the agreed transfer fee is 3 million euros (approximately 4.2 billion won). This is higher than the known 2.5 million euros. The annual salary is around 700 to 800 million won, which is also a big jump from what he received in the K-League.
Oh Hyun-gyu flew to London, England during the Lunar New Year holiday and went through paperwork procedures such as issuing a work permit, and later completed all of the Celtic and medical tests in Glasgow. Now, the two clubs have finished all the detailed coordination and only the announcement is left.
With interest dating back to before the World Cup Finals it is clear that Celtic’s recruitment is at an advanced level rather than just being reactive.
In January 2021 with a major overhaul anticipated in the summer Jonjoe Kenny was the only arrival while Jeremie Frimpong and Hatem Abd Elhamed were sold with Olivier Ntcham going out on loan.
That left Ange Postecoglou inheriting a massive rebuild but over the course of four transfer windows he appears to have knocked the first team squad into shape to succeed in Scotland and offer hope of improvement in Europe.
I honestly don’t think the players we have signed in this transfer window are going to have any major impact in the Champions League ( but I hope I am wrong ). Our defence although adequate for the SPL is simply not good enough for the CL and I believe we have weakened the team by selling Gio and Juranovic . To have any success in the CL we need some marquee signings.. Big Moussa should have been brought back .