Former Celtic striker Oh Hyeon-gyu is making headlines on the continent after a remarkable few days that have seen him score decisive goals in two huge fixtures for Genk.
The South Korean forward returned to Glasgow last week in the Europa League, where he netted the only goal at Ibrox to hand Genk a famous 1-0 win over Rangers. It was a personal moment of redemption after missing a penalty earlier in the match, and one that will have been celebrated loudly among Celtic supporters watching on.
If that wasn’t enough, Oh followed it up by grabbing the winner in stoppage time against Sint-Truiden in Belgium’s derby clash. His 95th-minute strike secured a 2-1 victory and cemented his place as Genk’s man of the moment. Within the space of a few days, the 24-year-old showed both resilience and a knack for rising to the big occasion.
Oh’s development since leaving Celtic has been clear. In Scotland he often played second fiddle in the striker pecking order, scoring 12 times in 47 appearances. At Genk, however, he has found more consistency, netting 16 goals in 52 games while also providing assists.
That upward trajectory has caught the attention of clubs elsewhere, with Stuttgart previously tabling a £24 million bid that ultimately collapsed, a deal that would also have delivered Celtic a healthy sell-on bonus.
For Celtic supporters, there will always be a sense of what might have been. Oh’s work rate and physicality were never in doubt, but he struggled for a run of games to properly establish himself in Glasgow. Now, in Belgium, he looks every bit the striker capable of deciding matches on his own.
Scoring against Rangers and then delivering a derby winner in the same week will only strengthen his reputation at Genk. For Celtic fans, it is another reminder of a player whose career away from Parkhead continues to gather pace, and one who, for a brief moment, still managed to write his name into a game Rangers will want to forget.
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