Yang Hyun-jun's Impact on Celtic's Title Challenge
Yang Hyun-jun walked to the edge of the pitch in Paisley on Saturday night looking like a man in rhythm. A few months ago, he looked more like a man with his bags half‑packed.
Back in January, the winger seemed destined for Birmingham City. Celtic looked ready to cash in, Yang looked ready to go, and his story in Glasgow felt like it might end before it had really started. Then the move stalled, Martin O'Neill came back for a second spell in charge, and everything changed.
Yang stayed. Celtic surged. And by the end of last season, the South Korean had gone from fringe figure to key weapon in a title and cup double.
No one inside Celtic Park was surprised when the 24-year-old signed new terms in the summer. He had earned them. He has started this campaign exactly as he finished the last – direct, decisive, and increasingly central to how the champions attack.
His winner at St Mirren was another sharp reminder of that. Yang struck late on Saturday to seal a 2-1 victory, his second goal in four days after finding the net in the midweek win over Aberdeen. Two goals in a week, two performances full of menace out wide, and a growing sense that Celtic now build a lot of their threat through him.
“He is a really important part of the team,” the captain told Sky Sports after the win in Paisley. “He's a big player to miss, but obviously we wish him the best.”
McGregor chose his words carefully, because the timing is brutal for Celtic. Just as Yang is catching fire, he disappears.
The winger will miss the next four matches as he joins up with South Korea for the Asian Games in Japan, where his country face Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the group stage. For Celtic, the absence bites hard.
The numbers tell the story. This season, Yang already has two goals and an assist in seven games, a sharp uptick that reflects his growing influence. Last term, he finished with 10 goals and three assists, solid returns for a player still adapting to Scottish football and to the demands of a club that expects to win every week.
Now he is not just adapting. He is driving games.
O'Neill has leaned heavily into width this season. Celtic stretch opponents, pin full-backs, and look to isolate their wingers one-on-one. In that system, Yang is almost tailor-made. His pace, his willingness to take on his man, and his improved end product make him the obvious choice on the left when everyone is available.
Were it not for his international duty, he would be inked into that position.
Instead, Celtic head into a pivotal run without him. The schedule offers no hiding place: an away trip to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, a League Cup quarter-final at Rangers, a Europa League home tie against Ferencvaros, then an Old Firm league clash in Glasgow.
Four games that can shape the mood of a season. Four games without a winger who, in the space of a few months, has gone from almost out the door to almost undroppable.
For Yang, the Asian Games is a stage of its own. For Celtic, it is a test of depth, of adaptability, and of how they cope when one of their sharpest wide threats is suddenly on the other side of the world.
The club kept him in January. They tied him down in the summer. Now they have to find a way to get through this spell without him – and hope that when he returns from Japan, he comes back playing at the same relentless tempo.
