Almost out of thin air Celtic have announced that Kwon Hyeuk Kyu has joined St Mirren on loan until the end of the season.
Moving from the South Korean Second Division to the Scottish champions was always going to be a big leap with the first sign of problems coming when the midfielder was left out of Celtic’s Champions League squad.
Tomoki Iwata, Odin Thiago Holm and Paulo Bernardo were all listed in the UEFA squad with Kwon not making a single competitive appearance following his £800,000 transfer to Celtic.
At St Mirren the midfielder will have to earn his place in the team but with a much smaller squad the 22-year-old should finally get to sample competitive Scottish football.
It will remain very difficult for Kwon to work his way into the Celtic side but Liam Scales was in a similar position when he went to Aberdeen on loan in the summer of 2022.
Further back a domestic loan spell also proved the making of Kris Ajer as a spell at Kilmarnock helped his conversion from being a midfielder into a Celtic regular in central defence.
Hyeokkyu Kwon has joined St Mirren on loan and will return to #CelticFC at the end of the season.
Good luck, Kwon! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/kDiqIJuRqU
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 12, 2024
Kwon played in the pre-season matches against Wolves and Atletico Madrid but has only made half a dozen matchday squads but has yet to get off the bench.
Going out on loan at the start of the season would have made more sense but as his career moves into a new phase he does have five months elite training at Lennoxtown to take into life under Stephen Robinson in Paisley.
CLICK HERE for Kwon Transfermarkt profile.
CLICK HERE forMark Hendry’s Celtic transfer expectations.
