South Korea football legend Kim Bo-kyung has backed his former teammate Oh Hyeon-gyu to be a success at Celtic.
The 21-year-old completed a £2.5 million move to the Scottish champions during the week, signing a five-year deal for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
He is hungry to get started in Glasgow and as revealed by Ange Postecoglou showed a lot of perseverance to get the deal done.
A lot of South Korea’s top players already apply their trade in European football and one man who has done that in the past is Kim Bo-kyung.
Kim was a teammate of Oh at Suwon Samsung Bluewings who the 33-year-old still plays for after joining them in January and is gutted to see the youngster leave the club.
Having represented his national side almost 40 times, he made a real name for himself after joining Cardiff City where he was part of the side that won the Championship in 2013 that took the club to the English Premiership for the first time in their history.
At a similar age to Oh, Kim made the move to Europe from J-League but believes that the highly rated started will have no issues adjusting to life in Scotland and will be able to adapt to the game.
“I went to Europe at the same age as Oh did. It was a huge challenge for me, but it was also great motivation to succeed because at that time not too many South Koreans were in Europe. Going abroad is the most difficult thing, but it also offers the most possibilities. It’s an incredible opportunity for Oh and one that he could not turn down,” said Kim as quoted by the Daily Record.
“Personally, I am disappointed he has left because we won’t play together this season and he will be a difficult man to replace. He’s a great player already. But it’s a great move for him.
“Of course, he will make mistakes along the way, he’s a young man and it will take him time to adapt as it did me. But it’s a real honour to sign for a club as big as Celtic and I know he will rise to the challenge of playing football over there soon. I want to offer my full congratulations to him for such a prestigious move.”
