Celtic have a plethora of loanees operating away from the club looking to impress Brendan Rodgers ahead of their return to Lennoxtown this summer.
Earlier this year, the likes of Mikey Johnston and Marco Tilio were belatedly joined by Alexandro Bernabei in departing Parkhead on temporary deals, with the first two going on to have an immediate impact in their new surroundings.
South Korean midfielder Hyeokkyu Kwon also left Celtic for St Mirren during the winter period, and his spell in Paisley has aided the 23-year-old’s acclimatisation to Scottish football.
Since arriving at the Buddies, Kwon has made eight appearances across all competitions, earning regular minutes that he otherwise wouldn’t have amid the competition for places in Celtic’s engine room [Transfermarkt].
Per Sofascore, the former Busan IPark man has been an industrious presence under Stephen Robinson, winning an average of 1.3 tackles and making 5.4 ball recoveries per match on Scottish Premiership duty.
The Lisburn-born manager has expressed a desire to extend Kwon’s stay at the SMiSA Stadium into next season, stating last month: “He’s someone we’d really like to keep. We’re speaking to Celtic about it, perhaps keeping him for another season with ourselves.
“We’d be very keen to do that, but he isn’t our player, and that won’t be our decision. We knew he’d have an influence, it was about getting him game-time.”
Whether a prolonged stay at St Mirren is on the cards or not, Kwon has done his chances of a first-team breakthrough at Celtic no harm over these last few months.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers issues Hyeokkyu Kwon verdict
Of course, it is easy to point to a player being sent out on loan as a negative; however, Liam Scales, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie benefitted from spells elsewhere in Scotland before becoming key men at Parkhead.
Rodgers has recently shed some light on Kwon’s impact at St Mirren, and the Irishman has noted that both Celtic and St Mirren are delighted with the fashion everything has panned out for the midfielder.
He stated [Cited via The Celtic Way]: “Again, it’s an opportunity to go and play. We are really pleased.
“I spoke to Stephen, he needed game time with the squad being too big here. He is a talented player and hopefully he has gone and shown that and the guys are really delighted with him there.”
One interesting observation from Rodgers’ comments is that he still believes the squad is too large, which could indicate that we will look to trim the squad further in the summer by discarding excess bodies.
Reading between the lines, it is now up to the players at the club or on loan elsewhere to illustrate why they deserve to be part of the manager’s plans long-term.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
