Ange Postecoglou reckons all-action Hyeongyu Oh will get Celtic fans off their seats due his scoring style. And the Parkhead boss is also adamant the kid isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty with his substance. Postecoglou is delighted to complete the signing of Oh from Suwon Samsung Bluewings after a lengthy transfer chase.
The manager admits that, at one stage, he was concerned the deal might not happen at all having initially felt the attacker might be first in the door for the January transfer window. But Postecoglou has finally snared his man and feels Oh is ready to make an impact straight away. The 21-year-old was highly impressive in scoring 14 goals for Suwon during last year and winning senior international recognition with South Korea.
Postecoglou says Oh is the type to get fans excited and on their feet as he explained: “I really believe that, especially with the way that we currently play. He’s all-action, he gets his hands dirty, he works hard and he loves a goal. For a young guy, he’s only 21, his goals kept his club up last year, so it’s not like he’s coming from a club that was doing well and creating bags of opportunities, which shows his character.
“Celtic fans will really warm to him fairly quickly. He is a young, talented striker with great attributes and someone who is ready to take the next stage in his career. A player who is hungry, eager to develop and to achieve success. We are really pleased to welcome him to the club and look forward to working with him and settling him into our squad. I’m really excited by the potential he has, but also the impact he can make straight away. I just think he’s a really good fit for us.”
Postecoglou has satisfaction at both securing the services of the young talent having cited him as one he “really wanted” and also the hard work done to get it over the line. Having pinpointed him as a target, Suwon stated publicly over the festive period they were reluctant to let Oh leave during this transfer window. However, the player’s desire to get to Glasgow along with his abilities were key contributors in Postecoglou and club hierarchy pushing through the move.
The boss said: “I have watched Oh for some time and he is the striker I really wanted as I think he will be a great fit in our squad. Really importantly, I know that he had his heart set on joining us too and that his own perseverance has been crucial in making this deal happen, so his determination to join Celtic has been very clear.”
Speaking on Celtic TV, the boss added: “He’s someone that Mark Lawwell and myself identified really early on in the piece. We thought he’d be the first one through the door, but it’s fair to say that it’s taken a while to get the negotiations done and to get him here. It’s really credit to the player himself and to Michael Nicholson for their perseverance because there were times when I thought it wasn’t going to happen. I kinda lost a bit of heart, but they both persevered to get it done. So it’s great to have him here. I’m sure he’ll add to our football club.”
Oh is the fourth signing of the current window for the champions and evidence suggests he won’t have long to wait for an opportunity. Fellow captures Alistair Johnston and Yuki Kobayashi have already been in Postecoglou’s starting line-up with Tomoki Iwata also bagging a sub appearance in last weekend’s Scottish Cup success over Morton.
Postecoglou said: “Obviously, we got Yuki in fairly early and pretty much straight after the World Cup with Alistair and that just means it feels as though they have already bedded themselves in. January is a tricky month for transfers. You can get guys in and it takes them three or four weeks to sort of get into the football mode of the club and, by that stage, a significant part of the season has already gone. But the beauty of Alistair and Yuki is that they did that mini-camp before New Year and, once the league restarted, they were ready to go and that has been enormously beneficial for us and them.”
Oh will hope to follow suit and, having signed on the dotted line, is not the first Korean to pen a contract for Celtic. He is third in line after Ki Sung-Yeung and Cha Du-Ri. Postecoglou’s knowledge of the Asian market has already paid rich dividends with successful raids on Japan and, having now dipped into the K-League, he said: “I had a fair bit of experience at national team and club level playing against Korean club sides and there are some similarities (with Scotland).
“But more importantly, they’re another country where their top players end up playing in the best leagues at some of the biggest clubs in the world and they’ve always produced great talent. The other challenging bit with Korean players is that they have to do national service and one of the advantages and beauties of Oh is that he’s already done it. He made the decision as a young man to do his national service, which leaves him free and clear now to pursue his career, so there’s a lot there to suggest he could be a very good player for us.”
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