This season, Celtic fans have witnessed their fair share of fringe players stepping-up and making a name for themselves in the face of injuries to first-team starters.
Liam Scales has found a new lease of life after filling in when Celtic’s centre-back options were depleted; whilst Luis Palma has made himself a fans’ favourite in the absence of Liel Abada.
The strong mentality from those players waiting in the wings for a start has meant that the team has navigated its way through the early season injury-crisis relatively unscathed, and it looks like Yang Hyun-jun could be the latest player to stake his claim and stamp his authority on the team following the injury to Daizen Maeda that will have the Japanese winger sidelined for the next few weeks.
Impressing from the bench
Yang was signed following an impressive campaign that saw him voted as the K-League’s Young Player of the Year. Fans were naturally excited to see what the 21-year-old would bring to the team, and that excitement was only heightened after some flashy displays from the bench.
Celtic has a tradition of fielding tricky wingers who are willing to take on defenders, with the club’s greatest ever player, Jimmy Johnston, possessing those technical qualities in bucketloads.
Yang’s style of play gets the supporters off their feet, and an impressive appearance from the bench at Pittodrie where he assisted Matt O’Riley’s goal to secure the win at 3-1 saw him earn a start in the following fixture where, once again, he impressed.
A few doubts crept in, however, when the winger looked out of his depth against Lazio at Celtic Park in the Champions League a few weeks ago.
Looking like an impact player
Yang was unimpressive when starting on a few occasions, including in the aforementioned Lazio match.
That was doubled-down on when he struggled at Fir Park against Motherwell, quickly becoming the pantomime villain in front of the home fans where he struggled in a hostile atmosphere.
Following that poor showing at Motherwell, this writer began to have some doubts over the South Korean’s abilities as he was starting to look like an impact player who could only really influence a game from the bench. Those doubts were swiftly quelled.
Recent performances
An injury to Daizen Maeda meant that there was a free spot up for grabs in Celtic’s wide areas, with Yang and James Forrest looking the likely contenders for that role.
An impressive cameo from the bench against St Mirren where Celtic’s substitutes really changed the side’s fortunes on the night against the Buddies resulted in a start the following weekend against Ross County where Yang caused chaos for the Staggies backline.
He followed that up with another starring role as Celtic bounced back from a midweek European humbling against Atletico Madrid to dish out a 6-0 thumping of their own against Aberdeen at Celtic Park, a game in which Yang grabbed his first goal for the club.
Brendan Rodgers has pointed towards work done off the park with Harry Kewell as one of the reasons for Yang’s improvements over the last few weeks. The Aussie’s impact on the team has been pointed out now by both Daizen Maeda and Luis Palma, and Yang will now be hoping to hit similar heights to that pair.
JAMES MCKENZIE // Follow James HERE
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