Oh Hyeon-gyu confirms Celtic offer as Suwon refuse to budge

Korean forward Oh Hyeon-gyu confirmed Friday that he has received and is interested in an offer from Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic, but the Suwon Samsung Bluewings insist that the 21-year-old is not going anywhere.

Oh Hyeon-gyu poses at a fan event in Seoul on Friday. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Korean forward Oh Hyeon-gyu confirmed Friday that he has received and is interested in an offer from Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic, but the Suwon Samsung Bluewings insist that the 21-year-old is not going anywhere.

“The reports today are true,” Oh told reporters on the sidelines of an autograph event in Seoul on Friday. “It’s not common to receive an offer from Europe and Celtic, a prestigious club, gave me a good offer. I want to take this opportunity to challenge myself.”

Oh was responding to reports that Celtic had made a formal offer to Suwon. Some Korean reports value the deal at 2 million euros ($2 million), although it is unclear how accurate that information is.

Oh scored 14 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions in the 2022 K League season, with eight goals coming in his last 10 games. He was called up to the senior Korean squad for the first time on Nov. 11, playing 18 minutes of a friendly against Iceland, and landing on the reserves list for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

"People around me said it was a good season, but personally I didn’t feel like it was enough,” Oh said on Friday. “I went to the national team for the first time and I saw all the good players and realized I lacked the skills they had. I want to show my strength and develop next season. If I have a better chance, I'll try."

But despite Oh’s interest in accepting the Celtic offer, Suwon are adamant that they will not accept the offer.

“The club’s position is clear,” a Suwon official told SpoTV. “Oh has four years left on his contract and is an indispensable player.”

According to the JoongAng Ilbo, Suwon initially said that Oh had accepted the club’s decision and was willing to stay in Suwon. Oh appeared to contradict that statement, however, saying on Friday that he had told the club that he wanted to go and was “waiting for the team’s position.”

Oh is the third Korean to be linked to Celtic in the last few weeks, with World Cup star Cho Gue-sung and Busan IPark midfielder Kwon Hyeok-kyu also said to be on the radar of the Scottish club.

Celtic already signed two players before the January transfer window opened; Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata from Japan and Canada’s Alistair Johnston.

Oh is a particularly attractive option for international clubs because he finished his military service early, completing two years with the Sangmu military club last season.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]