YANG HYUN-JUN thought he would be teaming up again with his former Celtic team-mates Kyogo Furuhashi and Tomoki Iwata at Birmingham City in the summer.
As the clock ticked down towards the transfer deadline, it looked as though the South Korean winger was heading for the Hoops exit in a £3million deal.
The move was scuppered, though, when the champions could not find a suitable replacement.
It was a situation similar to the one in which Daizen Maeda found himself when his proposed £14million switch to Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg collapsed.
WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU, YANG…the South Korean celebrates the second of his double in the crucial 3-1 win over Motherwell at Parkhead.
Now both of the wide Bhoys are doing their bit as Martin O’Neill’s side attempts to get back on track after the catastrophic 33-day reign of Wilfried Nancy that saw them lose six of his eight games in charge, drop TWELVE precious Premiership points, blow the League Cup Final and endure embarrassment of a 3-0 home defeat in the Europa League.
Yang hit the headlines with his double salvo in the 3-1 win over Motherwell at Parkhead on a day when the Hoops closed the gap on leaders Hearts to two points with eight games to play.
The 23-year-old flanker has claimed eight goals in his 37 appearances during a topsy-turvy campaign.
His double against Well could be crucial when the points are being tallied at the season’s conclusion – and his strikes were greeted by a special section of the club’s support.
The international forward said: “Yeah, I’ve heard about the Yang Gang. It’s nice – I like it!
“Of course it’s great to have people supporting you and I am happy.
THAT’S MY BHOY…Daizen Maeda congratulates Yang Hyun-jun after one of his double.
“Yes, it is true, I was very close to leaving, but it doesn’t matter any more. Just because that move did not happen doesn’t mean I was sad about it.
“It just motivated me to practise and prepare harder. I think you can see that in my games these days.
“I am very happy here. All I want to do is focus on the team and trying to win every game.
“That’s what I have been doing and will continue to do.”
Revealing he was at last conquering the language barrier, Yang, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “This is my third season here. The first two seasons were hard, maybe I didn’t play as much.
“But I feel it’s easier now. I am more confident with the language and I can communicate a lot better with staff and team-mates.
“It has been very good. I am always talking with my team mates now as I have some English.
“On the pitch, it’s pretty easy in terms of communication and commands.
CRASH, YANG, WALLOP…Jack Butland is helpless as the South Korean thumps Celtic into the lead in the January derby at Parkhead.
“It’s maybe easier to understand English with the international guys. Sometimes it can be harder with the Scottish boys – especially Tony Ralston!
“I’m not sure about his Korean, I’ve been trying to teach him and he teaches me some Scottish phrases.
“I know some Scottish words – but they are mostly the bad words!”
Yang added: “I am also enjoying playing for the manager. It’s a very big honour for me to play under Martin O’Neill.
“It’s been an extraordinary experience in my life. He’s a very friendly person, he tries to communicate a lot with the players.
“He reached out to me first and that boosted my confidence and I have felt that in my performances.”
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