Oh Hyeon-gyu’s medical mystery cost Celtic a £4m windfall

The South Korean forward appeared set to swap Genk for the Bundesliga, even flying to Germany last week to finalise the transfer with the Champions League club.

Celtic included a sell-on clause in Oh’s £3.5 million move to the Belgian side last summer, and the Scottish champions stood to collect about £4 million had the transfer gone through.

Stuttgart, though, pulled out of the agreement, pointing to worries over a potential knee problem.

The ex-Celtic striker put aside his frustration to feature for South Korea in a 2-0 victory over the United States, later admitting he remained puzzled by the collapse of the transfer.

As reported by Daily Record, Oh said: “Since high school, I’ve never had any problems with my knee and never missed games due to injuries, not even at Celtic or Genk.”

“So I was disappointed the transfer didn’t happen because I was ready for it both physically and mentally. But as soon as I left Stuttgart and went to the United States to play for my country, I put that behind me.

“Life would be less fun if only good things happened to you. You have to persevere, despite setbacks. I’m just going to work hard and prove myself. If I get so good at some point that every team wants me, then there won’t be a problem!”

In other news, over the weekend, Celtic Supporters Association delivered a unanimous No Confidence vote in the Celtic FC Board.

A statement read: “Following on from our meeting on Friday with Michael Nicholson and other representatives of Celtic Football Club, we convened a meeting today of our member branches to give a report on the aforementioned meeting.”

“The member branches were dissatisfied with the answer’s to our questions, and as a consequence have decided to place a vote of no confidence on the Board of Celtic Football Club.”

Conor Spence

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