World Cup winner impressed by hungry Celtic player

You’ve definitely got a good future if a World Cup winner is backing you and talking about being impressed by your play. That’s the latest very encouraging news for one of the Celtic players. It’s early days yet in his Parkhead career and he has been limited in terms of starts since joining in January, but Oh Hyeon-gyu is already making a good name for himself.

His move from Suwon Samsung Bluewings to Celtic in the January transfer window could prove to be a very significant step for the player. There is sometimes a concern over whether playing in Scotland gives enough exposure and competition to claim a place for a national team.

Oh narrowly missed out on a spot in the 2022 World Cup, stepping down from the squad at the last minute to let Son Heung-min claim his place. So he will be keen to avoid not being selected for future squads.

The South Korean national team boss and German World Cup winner, Jurgen Klinsmann, has encouraging news for Oh though. He had recently visited Europe to watch a few of his international players in their domestic football leagues.

World Cup winner impressed by hungry Celtic player

Klinsmann included a trip to Kilmarnock where he took in a second half performance from Oh in a 4-1 win for Celtic, with the goals all coming in the first half.

As reported by the Daily Record, Klinsmann said about Oh:

"“I went to the Celtic game and Oh Hyeon-gyu was very impressive. At the moment, he doesn’t get a lot of playing time at Celtic, but he confirmed to me how hungry he is to fight to try and get a place in the team.“We met and discussed his development. It was a beneficial time for me to meet the European players. He is a very strong-willed young man. I told him it was important to understand the environment in which he now lives and to fit into it. I am sure he will get more opportunities in the future.”"

It’ll be a good challenge for the player to get more game time at Celtic. While he’s not at all expected to start ahead of Kyogo Furuhashi anytime soon, Oh will be hoping to get on the Hampden pitch for the Scottish Cup semi final at the weekend, even if as a substitute. He has three goals to his name for the Hoops till now. Let’s just hope that he can add to that tally against the Rangers.