Yang had just turned 21 when he arrived at Celtic from Gangwon in South Korea in July 2023. He had made 62 starts in senior football but Celtic scouts had been on the case for months. Ange Postecoglou was of the opinion that if the club didn’t move that summer, we would miss the opportunity to take him.
The player’s portfolio was handed to Brendan Rodgers when he took control, just two weeks before Yang signed. It was a low-risk deal for a young player who would need to be developed, but whom the scouting team thought had huge potential.
Roll on 20 months and Yang has 10 Champions League appearances an assist against Bayern Munich under his belt and against Aberdeen last night provided more evidence of what happens when you craft a development path for a player.
A week after Yang arrived in Glasgow, Kwon Hyuk-gyu (then 22) followed. Kwon has yet to play for Celtic but enjoyed rave reviews on loan at St Mirren last season, and has done enough to impress at Hibs this term to bring himself into the South Korea squad. Korea are currently 23rd in the Fifa rankings, 22 places above Scotland.
Speaking last week, the South Korea manager told local press he had met Yang and Kwon on a recent trip to Europe and both were in his plans.
Marco Tillio, then 20, was another who arrived that summer and another who has yet to play for Celtic, apart from a 28-minute cameo in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell. He has continued his development on loan at Melbourne City and scored a peach in the Melbourne derby at the weekend.
A week after Kwon arrived, Gus Lagerbielke, then 23, came in from Elfsborg in Sweden. With substitute appearances, we have seen him 10 times in a Celtic shirt, including a win at Ibrox and a scoring win against Feyenoord in the Champions League.
Others arrived that season. Some (Bernardo, Kuhn) are clear successes. Iwata moved on at breakeven cost, and found an environment at Birmingham which has allowed him to flourish. Louis Palma promised more than he delivered, is now on loan at Olympiacos and could eventually leave at a profit.
The development path has been closed to Odin Holm (20 when he joined but off to the MLS on loan this month) and Maik Nawrocki, who seems to have been given no roadmap.
The summer of 2023 was one of transition. It was setup for Ange Postecoglou by Mark Lawwell, before Brendan’s appointment. Brendan had little time to make assessments. He gave the green light to all who were signed, and brought in loanees Nat Phillips and then Adam Idah from his own network.
The recruitment of young players with elite potential and their subsequent development is where we have to be as a club. It is (genuinely) great to sign known quantities at their peak (Kieran), even if the reality does not match (Nat). It will help “Beat the Rangers” and fulfil all our short term aspirations, if that’s what your thing is. But you and me are not here for the short term.
How many elites will we get from signing players like Yang, Kuhn, Iwata, Bernardo, Kwon, Holm, Tillio, Palma and Nawrocki? Or put it another way, how many will we lose money on, not even serious money?
It is a low risk, high reward strategy. It beats the hell out of signing players in their mid-20s with no appreciable value to earn and in time, we should only get better at it. Clubs everywhere are doubling down on data, learning from others and making it harder to find inefficiencies in the market.
This season, only Viljami Sinisalo met this criteria. Arne is also a development prospect but of a different cost magnitude. How many elites will we get from Viljami? I feel good about Champions League qualification prospects in August and expect us to win the league. But the drift in strategy is a concern.
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TURKEYBHOY on 26TH FEBRUARY 2025 7:09 PM
If there is a strategy beyond giving the manager the “quality” he’s wants (whatever that means) it’s seems to guarantee a certain level of quality but no more. Trusty has done fine but he came to Celtic after a season in the championship with Birmingham and finished 17th and a seasons in the EPL when he was a mainstay of the worst defense in the history of the league. We knew about Idah, it turns out he was the third best striker at Celtic when he signed, behind Teo players no one had heard of before they came abd who cost less combined.
We could be a better team than we are if we’d held our nerve and stick to signing unknowns. We could also be worse, I guess, we’ll never know. But safe, conservatives signings will always put a limit on hiw good we could be
Apologies, im struggling with the ads
Leftclicktic – don’t know, but it will interesting to see what he lets them away with.
They’ll be flying around like bears wi’ burnt baws
https://youtu.be/_S_-EIMDGew?si=Vti7ICT6vrh44369
Happy Birthday Fergus
https://x.com/CelticFC/status/1894669985072525659?s=19
HH
Huns coming out wearing orange tracky tops😂😂
Blogger
🤣
Thanks for making me smile broadly.
Huns all sporting their bright orange track suit tops. Sums up perfectly the mentality of their new coaching staff. Bigots one and all. Barry looking splendid in Michael beales old suit and tie.
Some killie player will get a sore one with Barry’s tactics.
My understanding of our beginnings is that Br Walfrid chose the name Celtic (rather than Hibernian) so that the Club could act as a bridge between the peoples of Scotland and Ireland. Imo, he was wanting the Irish Catholic community to assimilate with the “welcoming” community. Does singing for the IRA still promote such an ideal today? I doubt it.
😂😂😂😂😂
McInnes sure to roll over and help his pals.
1-0 Killie ,
Sevco 1888 – under new mismanagement 😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂. McGregor and McCann getting stripped.
killie score so soooon!
Got the last post a bit wrong😂😂😂
2-0. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
2-0
Killie 2 -0 too funny
Well well well
Sacked in the morning
Barry will be putting a few of these at half time
Butting
Good start for staunch Bazza
How are the four horsemen of the abomination doing?
Obviously the ghetto blaster in the changing room belting out a staunch playlist didn’t work then 😂
Oh dear.
Won’t be tempted to watch them, though happy to take updates from here
I was at my first Celtic match last night since early December v Hibs. I was seated in the South Stand rear, my first venture into the main stand for 7 years.
I had almost forgotten how poorly maintained the surroundings are. Cramped toilets immediately opposite catering with queues for both converging at half-time and little room to stretch one’s legs.
The one positive I found was hot water in the toilets. I wonder if the other stands provide that luxury. I know the Jock Stein stand didn’t as recently as December.
As for the catering, last night I purchased a diet coke which turned out to be warm. My paper cup didn’t even contain ice.
The sooner the Main Stand is flattened and rebuilt the better. Yes it would be expensive but it would come under capital expenditure so could be financed over a number of years and repaid through increased gate receipts and/or season tickets.
Get it done Celtic.
Killie miss a sitter to make it 3
He’s having a propper strop😜
Watkins determined not to score. 2 sitters.
:)))))))))))))))))))
and
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Mate just text saying killie should be 4 up
Won’t watch them in case the orcs score
Ugly scenes from the Away Fans??????
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BANKIEBHOY1
message received and understood.😁
How ye Owen?????
;)
The Daily Record told me AC Milan offered him a 3 year contract 😂😂
If it stays as it is at Rugby Park, then Celtic will clinch the title with two wins against rangers plus one other win. They could lose the other 7 games and still win the league, even if rangers win every other game!