Yang Hyun-joon (21) will wear the prestigious Celtic jersey in Scotland.
“We are delighted to announce the signing of highly-rated South Korean player Yang Hyun-jun on a five-year contract,” Celtic announced on the club’s official website on April 24 (KST). According to Kangwon FC CEO Kim Byung-ji, the transfer fee is in excess of 2.5 million euros (approximately 3.5 billion won).
Celtic added: “Yang, who won the ‘K League Young Player of the Year’ award last season, will leave Gangwon to join South Korean striker Oh Hyun-gyu. He is Brendan Rodgers’ third signing of the summer.”
Rodgers added: “I’m delighted to bring Hyun-Jun Yang to the club and I’m sure he will be another great player. We’ve looked at him in detail. He will make our attacking options, including his teammate Oh Hyun-gyu, even stronger.” “It’s also clear that Yang wanted to join Celtic very much. He will be delighted that it is now finalized. We are really looking forward to working with him.”
Yang, who will also be playing in Europe, said: “I’m very happy to be at Celtic and I’m looking forward to meeting my new teammates and starting training with them. This is the transfer I wanted, so it’s great to be here in Scotland as a Celtic player now.”
Yang will now link up with his age-group teammate and Celtic senior, Oh Hyun-gyu. Oh joined Celtic from Suwon Samseong in January and scored seven goals in 21 appearances last season, helping the team on their ‘Domestic Treble’.
“I’ve already spoken to Oh Hyun-gyu and he told me good things about the club and the supporters. I can’t wait to meet them and play in front of them.”
It was not an easy transfer. Gangwon, who had been holding onto Yang, were in crisis this summer as they slipped into the relegation zone. The club had just fired coach Choi Yong-soo and brought in Yoon Jeong-hwan as the new firebrand, making it difficult to let go of a key player. “We received an offer from Celtic last month, but we told them it was difficult to let him go now,” a Gangwon official said in June.
Of course, Yang was eager for a move. “It’s every player’s dream to go to Europe,” he said in a Mixzone interview after the Suwon FC game last month. The team is in a difficult situation, but I want to challenge myself,” he said, adding that he already had a verbal agreement made last year. “I’m even willing to take a pay cut to go,” he said.
Fortunately, the two sides quickly came to an agreement. “We decided to positively reconsider (Yang’s) transfer to Europe,” Gangwon president Kim Byung-ji told OSEN on April 6, and the club said on April 15 that “Celtic strongly wanted to sign Yang, and after much consideration, we allowed the transfer.” In the end, after a long saga, Yang Hyun-joon was able to play his dream game in Europe.
Meanwhile, Celtic will continue to build their ‘Korean Trio’. After Yang, Celtic is expected to announce the signing of central midfielder Kwon Hyuk-kyu (Busan I-Park). According to the UK’s Daily Record, his transfer fee is expected to reach £1 million (approx. 1.6 billion won). 안전카지노사이트