Transfer fee revealed for Celtic’s midfield target

Midfielder Kwon Hyeok-kyu will become a Celtic player for just £1m according to a report in The Sun.

On Friday morning a report emerged from Korea that the midfielder was Celtic bound alongside winger Yang Hyun jun.

Negotiations for the Gangwon winger have been very public but yesterday’s report on Kwon was the first since January when Celtic were linked with a couple of Korean’s with Oh Hyeon-gyu making the move.

A fee of £1m, even with the obligatory add-ons wouldn’t make much of a dent on Celtic’s reported transfer budget with The Sun reporting:

And Buson IPark’s highly-rated midfielder Kwon Hyeok-kyu is also back on the Parkhead club’s radar in a £1m move.

Yang, 21, has been involved in a long-running transfer saga but it’s believed Gangwon chiefs have finally sanctioned the switch.

Brendan Rodgers could also plunder the Korean league for 6ft 3in holding midfielder Kwon.

The 22-year-old is back at second division Busan after completing his military service with army side Gimcheon Sangmu.

Celtic made a move for him in the January window, but the South Korea Under-23 star wasn’t allowed to leave.

Busan are now ready to do business and the Hoops could bring him to Scotland as part of a double swoop.

Adding a defensive midfield player alongside Callum McGregor was something of a recurring issue during Ange Postecoglou’s two years in charge of the hoops.

Domestically there is little requirement for additional strength in midfield but in Europe it is essential to provide extra support for the defenders.

James McCarthy and Yosuke Ideguchi were tried in the first season without finding a solution, Aaron Mooy had more success before retiring while Tomoki Iwata and Oliver Abildgaard looked OK without producing anything special.

Odin Thiago Holm has already been signed in the current window with all the signs being that he will soon be joined by Kwon.