Brendan Rodgers may be about to get an important wish at Celtic.
The Hoops boss will still be in the process of evaluating his new squad. The first-team are currently in Portugal, and will travel to Japan next week as they step-up preparations for the new season.
Recruitment will continue to be a major topic over the summer as Rodgers tries to improve a squad that won another domestic clean sweep last season.
Earlier on Friday, we told you that the club’s Asian influence was set to grow with the signings of South Korean pair Hyun-jun Yang and Kwon Hyeok-kyu.
The latter is a particularly interesting player, given that he currently plays in the K League 2. Kwon is reported to be 190cm (6ft 3in) by Soccerway, which would make him one of the larger Celtic outfielders.
A look at some highlights and an apparent likeness with Manchester City star Rodri (reported by Chosun) suggests that Celtic may have found the physical midfielder that fans have craved.
The idea seems to appeal to Rodgers too, given some comments he made to Celtic fan media during his first outing.
At the time, Rodgers told 67 Hail Hail and others: “Arriving in here earlier [this time] the start point is different [to 2016]. They’re synchronised well, technically very strong.
“We would like some more power in the team. But technically very good.”
It was a blink and you’ll miss it sentence. But it gave a real insight in to something Celtic were looking to bring to the squad this summer — physicality.
The team were pretty faultless domestically last season, but more steel may be required for us to make progress in European competition.
Kwon could be the start of that.
In other news, Celtic’s match away to Livingston has been selected by Sky Sports
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