Former Celtic star Oh Hyeon-gyu has opened up on his decision to leave the Scottish side this summer and he has revealed who played a key role in his decision to leave the club.
Last season, Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic romped to the Scottish Premiership title as The Bhoys dominated the division and won the title comfortably with Matt O’Riley excelling.
HITC has reported that Brighton are keen on O’Riley after the Danish midfielder had an outstanding goalscoring season for the club.
However, O’Riley won’t be the first player to depart this summer with Oh Hyeon-Gyu also leaving the Scottish champions for Belgian side KRC Genk, despite talks for the South Korean previously stalling.
Oh Hyeon-gyu admits Son Heung-Min played big part in decision
Last season for Celtic, Oh Hyeon-gyu featured in 20 Scottish Premiership games for the club but started just three of these matches.
Despite his low number of starts, the South Korean made a big impact as he scored five goals for the Scottish champions but decided to depart the club.
KRC Genk signed Oh Hyeon-gyu from Celtic last month and the 23-year-old has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min played a key role in helping the striker leave Brendan Rodgers’ side for the Belgian club.
Speaking to Belgian outlet Het Belang van Limburg, the Korean forward admitted that Son gave him the final push to leave.
“Son was extremely positive about the impact (KRC Genk’s manager) Fink had on his career,” Oh Hyeon-gyu said with Thomas Fink previously managing Son during his time at Hamburg SV.
“As a striker you like to play in a team with a coach who wants to attack. He therefore advised me to move to Genk. I am happy to be here and know that my chance will come. I feel ready to play, but I follow the coach’s wishes. I have patience.”
Oh Hyeon-Gyu explains Celtic decision was down to game time
The Korean forward, despite scoring five times for the club when he did play, was ultimately limited to 1,317 minutes across his 47 appearances for the club during his time there.
“That’s how it goes in football but of course I wanted to play more,” Oh explained to the Belgian outlet.
He is set to be rewarded with more first-team minutes for the club and has already featured twice for the Belgian side in the new campaign in the Jupiler Pro League.
A move away from the club looks to be the best decision for the Korean’s development.
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