Yang Has Gone From Celtic Write-Off To A Player We’re Worried About Losing — I Never Saw This Coming

I’ll happily admit this one.

I have never been in the Yang Gang.

So naturally, I didn’t see the Yang Hyun-jun turnaround coming.

In fact, there was a point where I’d have been perfectly happy for Celtic to move him on. Plenty of opportunities had come his way without ever really convincing me he was going to become an important first-team player.

Now I’m sitting here wondering how Celtic cope without him for upcoming matches.

Football, eh?

Yang’s transformation since Martin O’Neill returned to Celtic has been remarkable. The South Korean has gone from a player who was almost out the door to one who has become increasingly difficult to leave out.

His numbers show the improvement too. Yang finished last season with eight Premiership goals from 31 appearances and has started this campaign with two goals from Celtic’s opening five league matches.

Those numbers only tell part of the story, though.

Confidence is pouring out of him.

Saturday night’s winner against St Mirren was probably the perfect example.

Camilo Duran did brilliantly to win possession before Yang was released through on goal. Yang anticipated Duran would win his duel and put the afterburners on way before the pass was made.

Once through on goal there was no panic. No hesitation. He calmly put it beyond Jacob Chapman and Celtic left Paisley with another three points.

That’s a player who believed he was going to score.

A million miles away from the Yang I thought we’d eventually move on from the club for a nominal fee.

Birmingham City Could Have Had Him.

The mad thing is that this story almost never happened.

Yang was on the verge of leaving Celtic for Birmingham City before the move collapsed.

Martin O’Neill has since openly admitted he’s delighted it didn’t happen, explaining that after watching Yang in training he saw a player who could beat opponents and perhaps simply needed confidence.

Whatever the circumstances surrounding that collapsed move — and there were plenty of stories doing the rounds at the time with rumours of Michael Nicholson simply not returning any calls — it has turned into one almighty blessing in disguise for Celtic.

Not necessarily by design, but we’ll take it.

The player subsequently signed a new Celtic contract through to 2030, saying his future was at the club.

That’s some turnaround for someone who’d effectively had one foot out the door.

Martin O’Neill Has Found Something In Yang.

O’Neill deserves enormous credit here.

Yang had been afforded opportunities at Celtic previously. That’s probably where some of my frustration came from.

You could see little flashes.

Pace. Directness. The ability to go beyond somebody.

Too often, though, there wasn’t enough at the end of it.

Luis Palma is an interesting comparison. Palma produced goals and assists at Celtic yet was ultimately moved on relatively easily. Yang, meanwhile, continued getting opportunities despite struggling to produce consistently and having dreadful numbers in comparison with even our most maligned wingers.

It felt at times like Celtic were waiting for something to click.

Finally, it has.

During O’Neill’s initial return last season, Yang started showing signs of becoming a genuinely important player. Perhaps the standout European moment came in Rotterdam, where he scored during Celtic’s 3-1 Europa League victory over Feyenoord.

By January, he’d scored three times in four games.

O’Neill summed up one of his biggest strengths perfectly when discussing Yang’s ability to simply go past players.

That sounds basic.

It’s actually increasingly rare.

How often do we watch modern wingers receive the ball, turn backwards and recycle possession?

Yang wants to attack somebody.

When he’s playing confidently, that creates chaos.

I Was Scathing About Him — He Deserves The Credit Now

I’ve criticised Yang heavily on the Bhoycie Bus before.

There were moments where I questioned whether I saw enough fight and personality from him. One incident at Ibrox particularly frustrated me because I felt his reaction summed up everything I didn’t want to see.

So I’m certainly not going to sit here now and pretend I always knew he’d come good.

I didn’t.

But if you’re prepared to hammer a player when he’s poor, you’ve got to be equally prepared to give him his flowers when he turns it around.

Yang deserves them.

He’s worked his way back into the South Korean international setup. He’s earned himself a long-term Celtic contract. More importantly, he’s transformed his position within Martin O’Neill’s squad.

His importance is probably best demonstrated by the conversation we’re now having.

We’re concerned about him being unavailable.

Imagine telling Celtic supporters that a year ago.

With huge domestic fixtures coming and Celtic also attempting to make something meaningful of another European campaign, suddenly losing Yang for international commitments feels like a problem.

That’s perhaps the biggest compliment I can give him.

We don’t just notice Yang when he’s playing anymore.

We’re going to notice when he isn’t.

The player deserves enormous credit for changing that conversation.

And I’ll happily take my medicine on this one.

I didn’t think Yang would become this important to Celtic.

Right now, I’m delighted to have been proven wrong.