Kwon Hyuk-gyu who Couldn’t even Make his Debut
On the 12th (Korean time), Celtic announced the 25-member squad that will participate in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Celtic was crowned Scottish Premiership champion last season and advanced straight to the group stage as the winning team.
UEFA held the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on the 1st.
A total of 32 teams were invited to the best stage of the UEFA club competition, known as the ‘War of Stars’, and in the draw ceremony, which is considered the biggest factor in each team’s advancement to the round of 16, Celtic defeated Feyenoord (Netherlands), Atletico Madrid (Spain), and SS Lazio (Italy). was placed in Group E along with
Feyenoord became the Dutch champion for the first time in six years last season and participated in the group stage, and Atletico is a powerhouse representing Spanish La Liga along with Real Madrid and Barcelona. 바카라사이트닷컴
Lazio also fell behind SSC Napoli, which won the league last season thanks to the performance of Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), but took second place in Italian Serie A.
While it is expected to be an uphill battle for Celtic as they aim to advance to the round of 16, Korean soccer fans were hopeful that Celtic’s ‘Korean Three Musketeers’ Oh Hyun-gyu, Yang Hyun-jun, and Kwon Hyuk-gyu would be able to make their Champions League debut.
Yang Hyun-jun and Kwon Hyun-gyu moved to Celtic during the summer transfer window ahead of the 2023/24 season, making this their first year at Celtic.
Oh Hyun-gyu transferred last January and joined mid-season, but he did not have a chance to play in European competitions as Celtic was eliminated early by finishing in last place in Group D in the Champions League group stage last season, behind Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Therefore, all three Korean players will play in European competition for the first time in their careers this season.
As it was the Champions League, the world’s soccer stage, Korean fans’ expectations grew, but Celtic shocked Kwon Hyuk-gyu, one of the ‘Korean Three Musketeers’, from the 25-man roster.
According to the UEFA website, Oh Hyun-gyu and Yang Hyun-jun are included in the 25-member squad that Celtic will play in the Champions League group stage
but Kwon Hyuk-gyu’s name cannot be found. Even though 10 midfielders were selected, Kwon Hyuk-gyu was excluded.
Regarding this, the British media ‘The Sun’ said, “Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has named a squad to pass the group stage
but there is no room here for Mike Navrotsky, Marco Tiglio, and Kwon Hyuk-kyu, who signed this summer.” revealed.
Polish defender Navroski, born in 2001, and Australian winger Thilio, born in 2001, are newly acquired players in the summer ahead of the new season, like Hyuk-Kyu Kwon and Hyun-Jun Yang.
However, both players are young and have not yet fully adapted to the team, but as they have suffered injuries, there is a reason for their exclusion from the list.
However, although Kwon Hyuk-gyu has been consistently attending training without injury since joining the team
not only has he not yet made his debut, but he is not included in the Champions League roster, and claims have been raised that he does not seem to be included in Coach Rogers’ plans at all.
Since joining Celtic, Kwon Hyuk-gyu has only been on the bench for 3 out of 4 league games. In one of these games, he was even excluded from the roster.
As he was not used in the league, he was expected to be given a chance during the cup competition, but he also sat on the bench and watched the game in the Scottish League Cup.
Midfielder Kwon Hyuk-gyu, born in 2001, made his professional debut in Busan in 2019 and entered the military through Gimcheon in 2021.
He was on his way to scoring two goals in 20 appearances in K League 2 at Busan I-Park during the 2023 season before moving to Celtic.
He was evaluated as a player with a good future, as he not only coordinated the midfield, but was also active in participating in attacks and scored goals.
Despite being 190cm tall, Celtic showed great interest in Kwon Gyu, who has many strengths as he can play both defensive midfielder and central midfielder and can also hit the box as an attacking midfielder in case of emergency.
After watching Hyuk-Kyu Kwon for about a year, Celtic decided to sign him for a transfer fee of 1 million pounds (about 1.6 billion won) last July.
Busan tried to hold onto key player Kwon Hyuk-gyu until the end if possible, but ultimately decided to let him go this summer.
In particular, transfers to other domestic clubs were also considered, but the player’s willingness to go to Europe was strong, so joining Celtic was confirmed.
When the signing of Kwon Hyuk-gyu was completed, Coach Rogers expressed his thoughts on the club’s website, saying, “I am happy to bring in Kwon Hyuk-gyu.
I know that he is a player that our club has been watching for a long time. It feels good to complete the transfer like this.”
However, the situation went in the exact opposite direction of what Coach Rogers said. Yang Hyun-jun, who also joined Celtic, mainly appears as a substitute, but played in all four league games and one League Cup match.
On the 13th, in the away game against Aberdeen in the second round of the 2023/24 league season, he even provided an assist and recorded his first attack point of the season.
Thanks to Yang Hyun-jun’s help, Celtic defeated Aberdeen 3-1.
Unlike Yang Hyun-jun, who is receiving opportunities little by little but steadily, Kwon Hyuk-gyu was not even given a chance, which made Korean fans wonder.
Of course, it was expected that it would not be easy since he came from K League 2 (second division), unlike Yang Hyun-jun, who transferred after playing in K League 1 (first division), but no fans expected Hyuk-gyu Kwon to be ignored this much.
Hyuk-Kyu Kwon is still young and has potential for growth, so he could show significant growth in the future and get a chance to play by making Manager Rodgers look at him again.
However, as he was excluded from the group stage of this season’s Champions League, fans are worried about Celtic’s Champions League match starting soon. I can no longer see Kwon Hyuk-gyu.
With the end of the September international break approaching, Celtic will attempt to advance to the round of 16 of the competition
starting with the away game against Feyenoord in the first leg of Group E of the 2023/24 Champions League group stage at 4 a.m.
on the 20th. If Celtic succeeds in advancing to the round of 16 or takes third place in the group and earns the right to participate in the Europa League
there is still a possibility that Kwon Hyuk-gyu will make his European debut this season as the roster will be submitted again after the winter transfer window ends in 2024.
Meanwhile, while Kwon Hyuk-gyu was unfortunately excluded from the list, Yang Hyun-jun and Oh Hyun-gyu were named to the 25-member squad, raising expectations about what kind of performance they will show in their first Champions League stage.
Celtic recruited Oh Hyun-gyu, who played for Suwon Samsung Ace in K League 1, during the winter transfer window last January.
Oh Hyun-gyu, who made his first appearance in Europe when he joined Celtic, mainly appeared as a substitute during the second half of the 2022/23 season, but had a successful debut season, scoring 7 goals in 21 games. As Celtic won the League, League Cup, and FA Cup, he added three more trophies to his career as soon as he joined.
Because he showed a good performance in his debut season, expectations were high to see what Oh Hyun-gyu, who is competing full-time for the season
would show in the 2023/24 season, but unfortunately, he suffered an injury ahead of the opening of the season and was temporarily out of action.
On the 2nd of last month, Oh Hyun-gyu was brought on at the start of the second half in the last friendly match of the summer pre-season, a match against Athletic Bilbao in which Celtic won 3-2, and received favorable reviews by assisting David Turnbull’s comeback goal in the 25th minute of the second half.
With his good performance in the friendly, expectations were high that he would be able to play in the opening match, but in the league opening match against Ross County, which he won 4-2, Oh Hyun-gyu stayed on the bench along with Kwon Hyuk-gyu. Only Yang Hyun-jun made his Celtic debut as a substitute in the second half, playing for about 20 minutes.
Coach Rogers explained that Oh Hyun-gyu only stayed on the bench because he was injured in a friendly match against Athletic. He explained, “Oh Hyun-kyu will probably not play for a few weeks. He injured his calf in the match against Athletic, but he trained over the weekend and participated in the game.”
He continued, “Oh Hyun-kyu continued to train afterward, and I spoke with the medical staff afterwards,” adding, “He has a problem that could see him out for the next four to six weeks.”
In the end, Oh Hyun-gyu, who had been out of action for treatment of an injury, made his comeback from injury as a substitute in the 30th minute of the second half in the match against Rangers in the fourth round of the league on the 3rd. As if the injury had completely recovered, he was called up to the Korean national soccer team led by coach Jürgen Klinsmann ahead of the international match in September. However, in the evaluation match against Wales on the 8th, he only kept the bench.
While Oh Hyun-gyu is finally getting started after returning from injury, Gangwon FC’s young winger Yang Hyun-jun, born in 2002, who won the K-League 1 Young Player Award last season, is gradually solidifying his position within Celtic.
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