Yang will be a huge miss for Celtic over next few weeks

Yang Hyun-jun was the Celtic match winner against St Mirren, thanks to a terrific assist from the equally impressive Camilo Duran…

It was a fitting moment for the South Korean, as he put in a splendid performance against the Paisley Buddies, thus maintaining his eye catching start to the new campaign.

It was the perfect parting gift from Yang, who will now head off as part of the South Korea squad competing in the Asian Games.

The South Korean will now miss the trip to Perth on Wednesday night to take on St Johnstone, plus double header against the Rangers, as well as the Europa League opener against Ferencvaros, something that will be a blow to Martin O’Neill as Yang has become one of his key assets.

The 24 year old looks more at home on the left hand side, which is just as well as Haissem Hassan looks as equally comfortable on the opposite side, although we are still waiting on an end product from the Egyptian international. That will come soon enough, don’t worry about that.

It’s not only the South Korean’s trickery on the flanks that’s impressive, he also knows his way to goal, with his strike against the Buddies being his second in as many games, following on from finding the back of the net against Aberdeen at Celtic Park last Wednesday night.

Those attributes will be sorely missed against St Johnstone and in the Glasgow Derby double header, as well as the home Europa League clash with Hungarian runners up Ferencvaros, where Celtic will want to get off to a winning start.

Yang seems to have excelled under the guidance of Martin O’Neill, and it’s no surprise that his upcoming absence due to international duty is seen as a massive blow to both the Celtic manager and supporters alike.

That in itself illustrates how much the 24 year old has improved under the veteran Irishman, as only a year ago most of us wouldn’t have been too concerned if the South Korean international was omitted from the side.

It’s actually hard to think of a Celtic player in recent times who has improved his game so much and to think that he was set to be sold to Birmingham City around this time last year for a fee of just £3m. That deal only fell through due to the significant failings in the summer 2025 transfer window, a sordid story we are all familiar with.

Yang has fought hard to make himself a valuable first team asset, and it goes without saying that he will be a huge miss over the coming weeks. If he continues his development under Martin O’Neill this season – as he surely will – then you would imagine that numerous clubs will be interested in him by next summer and he could be the next £25m plus transfer.

Let’s enjoy him while we can!