Few Celtic fans, and undoubtedly plenty of others in the wider world of football, knew who Oh Hyeon-Gyu was when manager Ange Postecoglou first began his chase of him.
Upon properly scouting the 21 year old South Korean striker, Postecoglou was certainly impressed by his physical traits – pace and power – and added to his clear finishing ability, he was more than happy for the club to use a reported £2.5 million of his January transfer budget to bring him into Parkhead from former club Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
Although the player doesn’t boast great professional experience given his age, in his domestic homeland league – the Korean K-League 1 – he had scored 14 times in only 26 starts and 15 additional showings from the substitutes bench, and three substitute showings into his life at Celtic, whilst he is a bit raw around the edges, fans are starting to see glimpses of why our gaffer put his faith in him to be a success in the Scottish Premiership. For those who play slots, they have probably seen enough to know he will prove to be a winner in the future.
As the media find out more about the lad, his former mentor is convinced he will be a hit, simply because the player is so curious to learn and know more about the game. Former South Korean international star Kwak Hee-Ju recently spoke about how he had seen the 21 year old develop since he first caught his eye aged only 15.
“I first saw Oh play football when he was 15. He would have been in second or third year of middle school. I watched a game he was playing in and straight away, I felt he had the talent to be a very good striker. At 15, he was a player with excellent physical strengths and skill. It seemed like he already knew how to behave as a professional footballer..
He went on to say of his attitude towards learning.
“Oh has always had lot curiosity to learn and he absorbed good advice and lessons. Even if Oh was doing well at an amateur age, he was not satisfied. He never stopped learning. The biggest strength of this player is that he will always ask for advice and look to improve his game. Oh won’t think he has learned everything just because he has made a big move to Europe. He will learn from the strengths of players who have good skills at Celtic. Oh is an IDOL for every young player in South Korea. He is an exemplary professional.”
Kwak went on to talk about his own role in Oh’s development, stating that he was quite ‘accepting’ to all and any advice given, but such was his attitude, the advice only needed to be simple pointers as opposed to more direct training and repetition, so he always felt that if he kept his head down and worked hard, he world one day secure himself a move to one of the top clubs in the European leagues.
There will certainly be an adjustment period for him as he settles into life at the club, so whilst he was undoubtedly get more cameo appearances this season to help him, fans certainly will not see the best of him until the 2022/23 campaign.
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