Yang Hyun-jun's Impact on Celtic's Season Amidst International Duty
Yang Hyun-jun walked to the touchline in Paisley on Saturday night looking every inch a player who belongs at the heart of Celtic’s season, not on the fringes of it.
Nine months ago, he was almost gone.
Back in January, Birmingham City pushed hard to take the South Korean winger out of Glasgow. At that point, his Celtic story felt half-written, his future somewhere in the English Championship. Then the landscape shifted. Martin O'Neill returned for a second spell in charge, Yang stayed put, and everything changed.
He didn’t just hang around. He became decisive.
Yang delivered key goals as Celtic powered to a league and cup double, turning a speculative signing into a frontline weapon. By the time the summer came, there was no debate. The 24-year-old signed new terms, a player once on the brink of leaving now central to O’Neill’s plans.
This season has simply picked up the thread.
On Wednesday, he opened his account in the win over Aberdeen. On Saturday, he followed it up with the winner at St Mirren in a tight 2-1 victory. Two goals in a week, both in games that demanded composure and conviction in the final third. The kind of contributions that separate useful squad players from those a manager builds a system around.
Callum McGregor certainly knows which category Yang belongs in.
"He is a really important part of the team," the Celtic captain told Sky Sports after the win in Paisley. "He's a big player to miss, but obviously we wish him the best."
McGregor’s point cuts to the heart of Celtic’s looming problem. Yang is leaving just as he hits stride.
Across seven games this season, the numbers back up the eye test: two goals and an assist, and a growing sense that when Celtic need width, drive and end product, they look to the South Korean. Last term, he finished with 10 goals and three assists, a strong return that hinted at what might follow with a settled role and rising confidence.
That evolution is written all over Celtic’s shape this year. Width isn’t an optional extra; it’s a cornerstone. The way O’Neill wants his side to stretch opponents, to pin full-backs and open lanes for runners, demands wingers who can both beat a man and finish moves. On current form, Yang would be the automatic pick on the left.
Except he won’t be there.
The Asian Games call has arrived, and with it a four-game absence that O’Neill could do without. Yang will head to Japan as part of a South Korea side that will face Qatar and Saudi Arabia later this month, trading the noise of Celtic Park for a different kind of pressure on the international stage.
Back home, the schedule offers no mercy.
- Celtic first travel to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, a fixture that can easily become awkward without the kind of direct threat Yang brings.
- Then comes a trip across the city to face Rangers in the League Cup quarter-finals, a tie that rarely allows for passengers and often hinges on one moment of quality from wide areas.
- After that, the stakes rise again. Ferencvaros visit Glasgow in the Europa League, a game where Celtic’s attacking patterns will be tested against European nous.
- Then it’s straight into a home league Old Firm derby, another meeting with Rangers, another occasion where every lost yard of space on the flanks can be fatal.
Those are the four matches Yang will watch from afar.
For a player who nearly slipped away in January, his absence now feels jarring. Celtic have options, of course, but they do not have another Yang Hyun-jun: a winger whose numbers are climbing, whose confidence is obvious, and whose game so clearly fits the way the champions want to play.
He almost left once. Now the question is how Celtic cope without him, just as he’s become the kind of player they can least afford to lose.
