New Celtic star Hyunjun Yang has set an ambitious vision for next year’s Olympics.
The former Gangwon winger may just have arrived in Scotland but he’s already looking to a bright future with Celtic and his country.
At 21, Yang is a contender to be involved in the largely under-23 football event at Paris 2024.
Winning a medal for South Korea would be a huge triumph, and it would also have the added bonus of meaning that he wouldn’t have to undergo compulsory military service in his homeland.
“At the Olympics we need to earn a bronze medal at the minimum,” he explained, as reported by the Daily Record.
“There are a lot of good players born in 2001, so I can aim for this. I also need to work on my physicality and my conditioning training.”
The year-and-a-half national service is a major part of life in Korea. Chances are you’ll remember it from the days of Ki Sung-yueng and Cha Du-ri years ago.
Thankfully, fellow Koreans Hyeongyu Oh and Hyeokkyu Kwon have already undergone theirs (Scotsman) meaning that Yang is the only one to keep an eye on.
If he could earn a medal with his country, it would have positive consequences for Celtic, with a military break no longer required.
The football at next summer’s Olympics begins in late July and runs until the middle of August so Yang would likely miss some Celtic games if Korea did go the whole way.
With a number of players from around the world nowadays, and the potential for three overaged players to be chosen by each nation, we could have a few away.
Along with Yang, we’ll need to cross that bridge when we come to it.
In other news, it’s rarely dull when Celtic visit the Aviva Stadium
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