Celtic and why Hyeongyu Oh has been slightly unfortunate at Parkhead

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Celtic striker Hyeongyu Oh looks close to ending his 18-month spell at Parkhead after arriving from Suwon Bluewings in January 2023.

According to reports, Belgian outfit Genk appear to be his next destination. Following an agreement on personal teams, it seems that once the finer details are completed, the 23-year-old will depart for £4.2 million plus add-ons.

Overall, his spell at Celtic can be categorised as mixed. Oh has registered 12 goals in 47 appearances, but has found himself behind Kyogo Furuhashi, and more recently Adam Idah, for most of his time in Glasgow.

Nevertheless, his professionalism, even in testing times, has to be commended. Both parties look to be entering a mutually beneficial deal amid his impending exit.

Hyeongyu Oh at Celtic and why he has been unfortunate

I may be stating the obvious, but the main reason why some people would believe that Oh has been slightly misfortunate at Celtic is his lack of regular minutes.

By that, I don’t mean his total number of outings; this is an observation geared towards the quantity of time he spent on the pitch, especially in 2023/24.

Per Transfermarkt, Oh made 26 appearances across all competitions last term, scoring five times. Nevertheless, he only started three times within that, completing 722 minutes in total, which isn’t a lot to go off once properly contextualised.

Regardless, the South Korea international ranked first for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership in Expected Goals, shots and shots on target per 90 minutes; meanwhile, he had the second-best goals-to-minutes ratio in the entire squad behind only James Forrest [Fotmob].

In the Champions League, his involvement lasted a span of only 99 minutes despite being involved in five fixtures. Again, is it fair to measure someone from this yardstick? Probably not.

Yes, the argument that he may still be raw is completely fair; it shouldn’t be disregarded that someone like Idah was able to come in and supplement Furuhashi’s goals with minimum fuss.

However, Oh is clearly someone with the potential to have a good career at a decent level, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he thrives at Genk, should he be given enough time on the pitch.

Celtic have decided to go in a different direction, and hopefully, this course of action can benefit the player and club.