Hyeongyu Oh has been a big talking point since Celtic’s weekend loss to Rangers with many seemingly keen to compare him to Giorgos Giakoumakis.
The South Korean forward spurned a major chance early-on in our 3-0 derby defeat and generally struggled to impose himself on the game.
Some have been surprisingly critical of him in the aftermath, suggesting that he isn’t at a same level as Giakoumakis who he replaced in January.
Strikers at a club like Celtic are judged on their goals so it is interesting to take a look at the pair’s stats from this season – and specifically their minutes per goal record.
As per transfermarkt.co.uk, Giakoumakis notched nine goals in 1,046 minutes for Celtic this season. That’s an average of a goal every 116 minutes.
Oh has actually played only 421 minutes so far and has four goals to his name. That’s a goal every 105 minutes.
Granted, there’s not a massive difference in it. But Oh is actually outperforming Giakoumakis in terms of his output this campaign.
Added to this, the South Korean has started just two games so far. We’ve really not seen as much of him as many may think.
This writer’s take on the situation is that Oh has done about as well as we could expect a 21 year-old (now 22) to do after moving from the other side of the planet.
Sure, he could have scored more, and Saturday’s miss was a bad one. But it’s been a more than decent start with far more to come next season and beyond.
Giakoumakis was a much loved player in his short stint in Glasgow so it’s natural that Oh has a lot to live up to.
But some of the chat around our recent signing has seemed a little surprising.
Ange loves him and recently told media that he would be a “fantastic player” for Celtic.
Would you really write him off from scoring 15 or more goals next season?
In other news, the SWPL have ruled out a Helicopter Sunday for the league’s finale this weekend
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