The Celtic headlines have been dominated in recent days by the potential exit of Jota, the retirement of Aaron Mooy and the arrival of Marco Tilio. The start to the summer has certainly been a busy one for the Hoops, with Brendan Rodgers also arriving for a second stint as manager of the club.
They are also set to take part in a pre-season tour of Asia. Two matches are scheduled to be played in Japan and one in South Korea.
Doubts were raised about the South Korean leg of the tour recently though. Celtic were scheduled to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in a friendly, but the Premier League club ended up withdrawing.
But there is a positive update on the entire situation. As reported by The Scottish Sun, organisers Stadium X are trying to arrange a replacement game for Celtic and have lined up K-League side Incheon United, as they stated:
"“While the visits of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Roma have been cancelled, a match between Celtic and Incheon United is still progressing.“We are changing our original schedule and promoting a match now between Incheon and Celtic, who have national striker Oh Hyeon-gyu in their team.“We would like to express our deepest apologies to football fans in South Korea for the cancellation of some of the matches.”"
Celtic match announcement after Wolves withdraw
Incheon United currently play in the top flight of South Korean football. They sit at ninth in the K-League table.
Thus, it is safe to say that a friendly game between Celtic and Incheon United will not have the glamour of one between the Hoops and Wolves. But in a difficult situation, perhaps this is the best we can hope for.
At the end of the day, it is a pre-season tour and a lot is not riding on the results anyway. It is an opportunity to get fit and for Rodgers to have a look at the players available to him, and make a decision on their future in the team.
It would have been great to take on Premier League opposition to prepare for the season, but it is what it is. Celtic do have a friendly game against Athletic Bilbao in early August, right before the Premiership campaign starts.