The debate rages on in Celtic circles on whether or not Hyeongyu Oh is an able backup striker for Kyogo Furuhashi.
Not helped by Brendan Rodgers’ decision to overlook the South Korean for the Atletico Madrid game, questions are now hanging over Oh and whether he is actually good enough for Celtic.
It sounds crazy to say considering his lack of minutes at the club this season but when you look back at the player he replaced, it’s little wonder the questions are being asked.
Giorgos Giakoumakis was a brilliant ‘powerful’ striker in his season and a half at Celtic. And according to Mark Wilson, if Rodgers was the manager, he doubts that the Greece international would have been allowed to leave.
Wilson said [Clyde SSB], “I would say Giakoumakis was one of those [project player]. We didn’t know Giakoumakis and for the first two weeks, we were not too sure.
“All of a sudden he actually challenges Kyogo. But the squad was much stronger then. It was Ange Postecoglou’s decision to say to Giakoumakis, ‘On you go.’
“Now I wonder if Brendan Rodgers would have handled that situation differently. He did [want to go] because of lack of game time but Ange Postecoglou is a firm man with beliefs and went and got someone else.
“He’s then left four months later [Ange Postecoglou] and I just wonder, if Brendan Rodgers was at the club at that time or he had Giakoumakis in the summer, he would have tried to persuade him to stay rather than I’ll get somebody else in. Because you’ve got a proven goalscorer there.”
I also wonder that if Giakoumakis was still at Celtic, would Rodgers have improved him just as he’s done with the likes of Liam Scales and Matt O’Riley?
It’s a scary thought considering Giakoumakis was the club’s top goalscorer in his first season despite featuring mostly from the bench.
Unfortunately, though we will never get to find out the answer to that. But Giakoumakis’ departure does beg the question. Was Ange Postecoglou too quick to get him out the door considering the former Celtic manager left four months later?
In other news, Brendan Rodgers not happy that 24-year-old Celtic man kept ‘needlessly’ giving the ball away vs Hibernian