Celtic were active in the January transfer window. The club were successful in bringing in four new faces in the form of Yuki Kobayashi, Tomoki Iwata, Alistair Johnston and Oh Hyeon-gyu. It is safe to say that all of them have shown the potential to be important players for the Hoops moving forward, which is another credit to their recruitment since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou as manager.
Celtic were not able to get all of their targets in January though, which is pretty natural. One of the players that they missed out on was Cho Gue-sung.
The South Korean striker had made an incredible impact at the World Cup, as his national team were able to reach the knockout stage of the competition. Individually, he was able to get a couple of goals and impressed with his overall play as well.
Thus, Cho looked like the perfect replacement for Giorgos Giakoumakis, who was on his way out of Parkhead. Rumours even suggested that Celtic had submitted a transfer bid in the region of £3 million plus a sell-on fee for the South Korean striker. But the move did not ultimately happen and the club signed Oh from Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
Striker was upset at Celtic transfer collapse in January
As reported by Football Scotland, Cho said:
"“When my move to Celtic didn’t happen, honestly I was upset. But I have no regrets about not going to Europe right away. I still think I have a lot to learn as a striker.”"
Cho ultimately stayed on at his club. It remains to be seen if another chance to move to Europe comes in the future for him or not.
Celtic might still be in need of a striker in the summer. They have only two players capable of playing in that position in the form of Kyogo and Oh. A lot will depend on how the South Korean striker develops.
Oh has shown quite a bit of promise during his time at Celtic already. But at the same time, it is also clear that there are areas of his game were he needs to improve if he wants to challenge for a starting spot someday.