Striker Oh Hyeon-kyu (22, Suwon Samsung, photo), who participated in the Qatar World Cup as a ‘reserve member’, is imminent to advance to Europe.
The Daily Record, a Scottish media, said on the 24th (Korean time), “Celtic is expected to finalize the contract this week to bring Oh Hyun-kyu for a transfer fee of 2.5 million pounds (approximately 3.8 billion won). In fact, it is highly likely that (the contract) will come in a few days.”
Earlier on the 23rd, British Sky Sports also said, “Celtic has agreed to sign Suwon and Oh Hyun-kyu for 2.5 million pounds. Oh Hyun-kyu verbally agreed to personal terms, and he is expected to finalize the transfer within a few days.”
Suwon Samsung also did not deny this. An official from Suwon explained, “Celtic has made four or five proposals for (Hyeon-gyu Oh) since before the World Cup until recently.” If the transfer to the observatory is successful, Oh Hyun-kyu will be the first player to advance to the European stage among Bento’s domestic Taegeuk warriors. 안전놀이터
Scotland’s prestigious Celtic have been eyeing Korean players to reinforce their strikers in the transfer market this winter. In the early days, they had their eyes on Cho Kyu-seong (Jeonbuk Hyundai), who scored two goals in the World Cup, but turned their attention to Oh Hyun-kyu when they failed to agree on a transfer fee.
Hyungyu Oh made his debut by signing a semi-professional contract with Suwon in 2019 while attending Maetango High School, and after playing 11 games that year, he served in the military at Sangmu in the 2020-2021 season to solve the military service problem. Returning to Suwon after being discharged, he played in 36 matches last year and scored 13 goals (3 assists), the most in the team.
Despite his great success in the league, Oh Hyun-kyu was not included in the final entry for the Qatar World Cup, but was selected as a reserve member and trained with other national team players in Qatar.
Celtic, who had been interested in Oh Hyun-kyu even before the World Cup, is known to have expressed their will to recruit Oh by offering an amount two to three times higher than the transfer fee at the time of the first offer.