Anthony Joseph explains ‘the reason’ why Celtic decided to sell Hyeongyu Oh to Genk

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Celtic’s decision to sell Hyeongyu Oh to Genk this summer was, in my opinion, quite a risky one to take for the club.

With only two recognised strikers, Brendan Rodgers would have been looking to add another to help support Kyogo Furuhashi and then, ultimately, develop Oh.

With talk of Adam Idah making a return to the club, if the Norwich City striker did make the Glasgow switch then the Celtic manager would have had his front three complete for the new season ahead.

But as it stands right now, Celtic only have Kyogo as their main striker with no backup as the Idah deal doesn’t seem anywhere close to being completed and Rodgers allowed Hyeongyu Oh to make the move to Genk.

So why did Rodgers allow Oh to level Celtic when the numbers up front were low and no replacement was secured?

What was ‘too good’ for Oh and Celtic to turn down

Sky Sports’ Anthony Joseph explains why the deal was allowed to get pushed through and the Sky Sports journalist said that despite Celtic’s recruitment predicament the deal has still ‘worked out’ for both parties.

Joseph said [Celtic Unrestricted View Podcast], “The money for Oh was too good to turn down for a player that was third choice.

“The that’s what the deal’s worth, £4.5m. I actually quite like Oh and I thought I thought there was potentially a player there.

“But again, he came in so raw that Celtic would have to continually develop him before he was properly ready to be a starter or even push Kyogo.

“So I think Oh might go on to have a decent career and might do well in Europe. The Belgian league might, might suit him.

“So if someone’s coming in with a deal worth £4.5m for what was your third choice striker last season?

“So you’ve also got to respect a player who’s at like that age where at 23 wants to play first team football and wants to develop.

“If he’s not going to be your first choice, and you’re trying to bring in players to move him further down the pecking order, then you’ve probably got to accept you’re getting a few million pounds from letting him go. So I think that’s the reason why he’s gone.

“I don’t think it was any desperation to push them out the door. It’s one of those things that the club we’re willing to listen to offers for him if they came in that was right. And Oh was happy to go for first-team football. So it’s worked out.”

Like Joseph, I also liked Oh and always felt that there was a player in there. Despite his lack of minutes, the South Korean still had very decent goalscoring stats and could figure himself a tad unfortunate that his Celtic move didn’t work out as planned.

At his age, he is the perfect striker for Celtic. Young, plenty of time to develop and progress and his physical stature meant that if Rodgers needed it, Oh could offer a different option for the Hoops up front.

However, as it turns out, the deal Genk offered was clearly too good for Celtic to turn down and now he moves on to the next chapter of his fledgling career.

As for Celtic, the fans will be hoping that the deal for Idah gets completed as soon as possible because as things stand now, Rodgers is set to start the new season with just one striker and that is simply not good enough.