CELTIC got two players for the price of one when they signed Yang Hyun-jun for £2.1million from K-League outfit Gangwon in July last year.
They got the all-action winger who ripped Aberdeen to shreds in a landslide 6-0 triumph at Parkhead in November to inspire the CQN headline on the match report of ‘WHAM, BANG, THANK YOU, YANG‘.
However, displaying a disturbing flip side, the South Korean wide Bhoy turned in a fairly appalling 45 minutes as the Hoops struggled against St Johnstone in Perth the following month.
THE ONE AND ONLY…Yang Hyun-jun scores his solitary Celtic goal in the champions’ 6-0 romp against Aberdeen at Parkhead in November.
Brendan Rodgers was fuming on the touchline as his players presented the hosts with a half-time advantage and, on this occasion, CQN‘s match summeriser observed: “It was no surprise when Yang, who will urgently need to brush up on the offside laws, was kept in at the interval with Mikey Johnston coming on in his place.”
The visitors turned it around in the second period with strikes from Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and James Forrest, but the manager was forced to confess afterwards that he had been “the angriest” he had ever been during the first-half of a game.
It was virtually impossible to accept that the right-sided performer at McDiarmid Park was the same operator who had dismantled the Dons in the east end of Glasgow three weeks earlier.
Yang claimed his first goal for the champions with a header in nine minutes against the Pittodrie club when he got on the end of a whipped left-wing cross from another summer arrival, Luis Palma.
The former South Korean Young Player of the Year created havoc that afternoon with his darting raids, powerful running and bombardment on Kelle Roos’ goal with an assortment of inviting crosses.
His header against the Dons remains his only goal for the club from 12 starts in his 31 appearances.
LOST BHOY…Yang Hyun-jun struggled to make an impact against St Johnstone in Perth in December.
Against the Perth club, the flanker looked like a lost Bhoy and moves continually broke down at him as he strayed into offside positions.
Rodgers, clearly, didn’t hesitate in removing him at the interval.
Yang’s performances have been a bewildering mixture of the wonderful and the woeful.
At the cutting edge of the campaign, he failed to make the matchday squad for the three remaining Premiership matches of the season against Rangers (2-1), Kilmarnock (5-0) and St Mirren (3-2).
Yang celebrated his 22nd birthday on May 25 by taking his place in the Hampden stand to watch Celtic win the Scottish Cup to seal the silverware double in Rodgers’ comeback crusade.
The player still has four years to run on the deal he signed 12 months ago and the forthcoming campaign is a win-or-bust situation.
Rodgers prides himself in being able to enhance the qualities and skills of his performers.
Yang appears to be a willing and able pupil.
Over to you, Brendan.
