Yang Hyun-jun is set to miss South Korea’s qualifiers for the upcoming summer Olympics amid Celtic’s ongoing title fight.
As he is under 23, the winger is eligible to play at the Olympics and could have been involved in his nation’s qualifiers for the tournament in Qatar next month. It is not listed in FIFA’s official international calendar, though, and thus, Celtic has no obligation to release Yang.
He therefore won’t play in the qualifiers and rather, the 21-year-old will stay with his club ahead of the run-in (The Scottish Sun). Yang may well feature in the finals tournament – which runs from July 24 to August 1 – if South Korea qualify, meaning he would miss the beginning of the 2024/25 season for Celtic.
At the minute, however, such an issue is a worry for another day. Brendan Rodgers has bigger fish to fry, and having Yang locked in going into the final weeks of the season and not having another unavailability will give him peace of mind.
Although Nicolas Kuhn is coming into form on the right-hand side, Yang was on a sharp upturn before his red card at Tynecastle a few weeks ago.
The gaffer of South Korea’s under-23s is having to come up with a contingency plan in his absence. He said: [The Scottish Sun] “I will have a final meeting with the staff, but this is a difficult part.
“We need to come up with an alternative. I am also thinking about plan B.”
