Celtic’s Hyeok-kyu Kwon heading to Austria Vienna – hopefully

The South Korean has been sounded out by Austria Vienna, according to Fussball Europa, who claim they’ve now got confirmation of interest that was bubbling under since late June.

You can try and be nice and say something positive about Kwon, but other than giving him credit for not being a bad apple when he wasn’t in the manager’s plans, it’s fair to say this is one that hasn’t worked. At all.

Signed in the chaotic scattergun Summer of ’23 that brought us a disproportionate number of duds in comparison to diamonds, Kwon never looked close to breaking through under Brendan Rodgers – and the ill-fated loan spell at Hibs last season did little to change the narrative. For a lad of 24, time is not exactly on his side to make an impact at Celtic Park, particularly if you can’t get a game at Easter Road, and crucially, there’s been no indication whatsoever from Lennoxtown that he’s set to feature in Rodgers’ plans going forward, if he ever did.

Celtic are said to be open to offers. Of course we are. They’ve even gone so far as to slap a modest €200,000–€300,000 asking price on the player – loose change these days. That just about says everything you need to know about how he’s valued within the club.

His contract technically runs until 2028 – but nobody expects him to see that out in Glasgow. If Austria Vienna can meet the modest asking price, or even present a convincing loan proposal, the Hoops hierarchy would surely take it. A clean break. Another one out the door from a summer that promised plenty and delivered far too little.

There’s reported interest back home in Korea as well, and a wider Asian market that might still see potential in the midfielder. But potential is no good after two years with the club, and Kwon’s lack of meaningful impact in Scotland is a painful reminder of how wrong Celtic got their recruitment that window.

Sometimes it’s best for all parties to admit it hasn’t worked. Cut losses. Move on. And let this will be lesson for the Celtic board as they rebuild with more clarity and consistency in this transfer window. Early signs are at least promising.

For Kwon, there may still be a decent career to carve out elsewhere. But it won’t be at Celtic. The door is wide open – and it’s time he stepped through it really.

Another one hopefully chalked off the Summer of ’23 horror show list where the windfall £25m we got from the unexpected sale of Jota to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad was mostly squandered.

To his credit Brendan Rodgers worked around that particular mess and has delivered four trophies in two seasons despite the incoming players in the summer he returned. No more of that nonsense, please Celtic.