Ji-sueng Park has started the ball rolling for the sumer sale of Cho Gue-sung from Jeonbuk Hyundai.
The striker seemed set for a January move after scoring twice for South Korea against Ghana at the World Cup Finals in Qatar with Celtic apparently towards the front of the queue.
Those goals in Qatar seemed to be perfectly times for a transfer to Europe but rather than switch continents in mid-season Cho has returned to the K-League with the expectation that he will be on the move in the summer.
Jeonbuk Sporting director Park was reported to have been in London last month conducting transfer negotiations with The Sun reporting the former Manchester United midfielder saying:
Celtic participate in European competition which is a great experience for the player and Cho would get an opportunity to express himself by playing in the Scottish league.
It would be perfect for him to improve in the future and he could stay at Celtic or Rangers which would be totally fine, or he could move on to a bigger league. Celtic or Rangers would be great for him to be his next step in his career.
In the winter there were a few clubs interested but we didn’t make a deal, but this summer I am happy to sell him and I think he’ll be ready for his next step.
First he needs to do well in our league and keep up his level, then prove it himself and I’m sure he can go to Europe in the summer.
Not going straight to the Premier League or one of the top five leagues, that could be better for him to adapt to the standard. There’s a path to succeed for Asian players, like Cho.
We don’t know yet which clubs will keep an interest in him in the summer, we’ll have to wait and see, but obviously if Celtic want to submit another offer for Cho in the summer they’re more than welcome.
Celtic’s interest in signing a striker led to Oh Hyeon-gyu who appears to have settled in quickly to the way that Ange Postecoglou gets his side to play.
Whether there would be a place for a third striker in the summer competing for one place is open to debate but as he demonstrated in January Postecoglou is always planning a few transfer windows ahead.