Brendan Rodgers lays out hopes for Hyeokkyu Kwon after difficult Celtic start

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Hyeokkyu Kwon’s loan move from Celtic to St Mirren is an interesting one and will finally give Bhoys supporters an insight into the midfielder’s potential.

Kwon arrived during the summer transfer window from South Korea but hasn’t made a single competitive appearance and this month was sent out on loan to Paisley.

The switch to working under Stephen Robinson will at least give the 22-year-old a chance to get used to the pace and physicality of the Scottish Premiership.

As Brendan Rodgers has now pointed out, it’s a move that could help him at Celtic going forward, similar to when Kristoffer Ajer was sent out on loan to Kilmarnock during the manager’s first spell at the club.

Brendan Rodgers compares Kwon to Ajer situation at Celtic

The Bhoys boss said [Celtic YouTube]: “I think for the likes of Kwon, he’s come in from the other side of the world. It’s been a challenge for him.

“I spoke to Stephen Robinson on him, he’s got lots of really good attributes, which is why he was brought to here. To get that experience and playing games is important for his development.

“It happened here when I was here first with Kris Ajer. Kris came in and probably wasn’t going to quite get the game time. He needed experience and went out to Kilmarnock and had a great season. He came back and played and did really, really well for the club.

“Kwon, it’s a really good move for him in many aspects – he can stay in Glasgow and he’s going to a very, very good coach and coaching team. We expect him to improve playing games.”

With Callum McGregor, Tomoki Iwata and others ahead of him in that holding midfield role at Celtic, realistically Kwon wasn’t going to be making appearances in the second half of the season.

If he can string together 10 to 15 appearances for St Mirren then we’ll have a good idea of what kind of talent level the Bhoys are working with ahead of the summer.

He is contracted to Celtic until 2028 so there’s a lot of time for him to make an impression, but we could now quickly find out if he has the potential to make an impact at the champions.