Yang Hyun-jun's Journey from Fringe Player to Celtic Star

Yang Hyun-jun walked to the edge of the pitch in Paisley on Saturday night looking every inch a man who belongs at the heart of Celtic’s season, not on the fringes of it.

Nine months ago, he was almost out the door.

Birmingham City pushed hard in January. A move looked close. Instead, the winger stayed put, Martin O'Neill returned for a second spell in charge, and Yang quietly turned himself from squad option into one of the champions’ most reliable match-winners.

The evidence is piling up.

From almost out to undroppable

Yang’s Saturday winner at St Mirren – a sharp, decisive finish to seal a 2-1 victory – was his second goal in four days, coming hot on the heels of his strike against Aberdeen in midweek. He has two goals and an assist in seven games this season, numbers that only hint at his growing weight in Celtic’s attacking structure.

Last season he hit double figures with 10 goals and added three assists. Those returns helped drive a league and cup double under O’Neill, and they framed an obvious decision in the summer. Celtic offered new terms. The 24-year-old signed. Nobody inside the club was surprised.

What has changed is the scale of his responsibility.

Celtic’s width is no luxury this year; it’s a cornerstone. O’Neill wants his side to stretch the pitch, to pin full-backs deep and create lanes for runners from midfield. On the left, Yang has become the natural pick, his direct running and timing into the box giving Celtic a different edge.

Take him out of that system and the whole picture shifts.

A key man heading east

And that is exactly what Celtic must now deal with. Yang will miss the next four matches as he joins South Korea for the Asian Games in Japan, where they face Qatar and Saudi Arabia later this month.

On this form, he leaves a sizeable hole.

Callum McGregor didn’t bother to disguise it after the win in Paisley.

“He is a really important part of the team,” the captain told Sky Sports. “He's a big player to miss, but obviously we wish him the best.”

McGregor’s words were simple, but they cut to the reality O’Neill now faces. Yang is no longer a rotation piece. He is a first-choice wide player in a system that leans heavily on its wingers to stretch games and break teams down late.

The timing of his departure could hardly be more awkward.

A brutal run without a rising star

While Yang is away, Celtic walk into one of the most demanding stretches of their season.

First comes a trip to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, always the kind of away day that can turn awkward if the champions lack sharpness out wide. Then the stakes rise again: a League Cup quarter-final at Rangers, a fixture that rarely forgives any weakness, followed by a home Europa League tie against Ferencvaros and then a home league Old Firm derby.

Four games. Four different pressures. One missing winger who has been deciding tight contests.

The win at St Mirren underlined that point. Celtic needed someone to tilt the match. Yang delivered. Take those contributions out of recent weeks and the champions’ start looks far less assured.

Now O’Neill must find another solution on the left, at least temporarily. The structure won’t change. The demands on whoever steps in will.

Yang, meanwhile, heads for Japan not as a fringe club player seeking form, but as a Celtic regular leaving behind a team that will feel his absence with every attack that stalls on that left flank.

For a player who almost left in January, his importance to what comes next could hardly be clearer.