Oh Hyeon-gyu makes first home appearance for Celtic

Football

Published: 02 Feb. 2023, 15:39 Updated: 02 Feb. 2023, 18:34

Oh Hyeon-gyu makes first home appearance for Celtic

Oh Hyeon-gyu, second from right, leaves the pitch with his teammates after Celtic beat Livingston 3-0 at home in Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday in an image posted on the club's official Twitter account. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Oh Hyeon-gyu made his first home appearance for Celtic in Glasgow on Wednesday, playing the final 20 minutes of a Scottish Premiership match against Livingston at Celtic Park.

Celtic won 3-0, with all three goals scored in the first half.

It was another quiet outing for Oh, who is still finding his feet at the club after playing 13 minutes in his debut over the weekend.

Oh signed with Celtic on Jan. 25 in a deal reportedly valued at £2.5 million ($3-million) after a drawn-out transfer saga that saw the Scottish club’s offer initially rejected before both Oh and the Bluewings manager made it clear they thought he deserved the opportunity.

Oh scored 14 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions in the 2022 K League season. He was called up to the senior Korean squad for the first time on Nov. 11, playing 18 minutes of a friendly against Iceland, and landing on the reserves list for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Oh’s arrival has created a buzz at Scotland’s top club, with fans keen to see how the young former Suwon Samsung Bluewings star translates to a more aggressive league.

It doesn’t hurt that he also comes with his own prepackaged chant — Celtics fans have been quick to realize the potential of repurposing the chorus from seminal Scottish rock band Pilot’s 1974 hit “Magic” for the Korean defender: “Oh, oh, oh it’s magic.”

He’s already proving popular with some of Glasgow’s younger residents, particularly those that already have an interest in Korean content.

Students from the local St. Benedict’s Primary School in Glasgow that are members of the school’s Korean Club filmed a video posted on the school’s Twitter page in which they welcomed Oh to the club in Korean, complete with bows and finger hearts, while holding homemade signs, also in Korean.

Oh had reportedly been on Celtic’s radar for a while, and manager Ange Postecoglou certainly seems happy with the signing.

“I kind of knew after I got off the call with him, that he was exactly the right type for us,” Postecoglou said last week. “His own determination to get a deal done shows you that."

Postecoglou will likely play Oh for increasingly longer periods as he gets used to the league over the next few weeks. Celtic will be back in action on Sunday as they face St. Johnstone on the road in Perth, Scotland.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]