MOTM – Yang Impressing again, he deserves great credit and a new deal

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The Celtic Star

·16 March 2026

MOTM – Yang Impressing again, he deserves great credit and a new deal

Yang impressing once again, he deserves great credit, and a new contract…

One player who was hugely influential in our win over Motherwell on Saturday was South Korean winger Yang, scoring a brace as well as looking a threat throughout.

The South Korean international is a player who’s had his fair share of criticism during his time at the club, some merited and some not, but to his great credit, he never lets it get him down, and he is always looking to improve.

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Hyunjun Yang of Celtic scores his team’s opening goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on March 14, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

His brace against the Steelmen brought his tally to eight this campaign which is a decent return for a wide man, particularly in a poorly performing Celtic side. Form that has made him something of a mainstay under Martin O’Neill.

After the match on Saturday, Martin O’Neill was asked about Yang’s performance. The Celtic manager was full of praise for the South Korean in his response.

“Yang? He was sensational, really, really great! Obviously, he scored the goals, a big, big boost. But it was the work that he did going backwards as well too. I wouldn’t know what sort of distances he covered today, but it would have been immense,” Martin O’Neill said.

Hyunjun Yang of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s third goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on March 14, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Looking back to his first impressions of Yang when he arrived back at the club in late October for his first stint as interim manager, O’Neill admitted that Yang caught his eye in training.

“Well, I believe that he was about to leave the football club in August time, which was a wee bit strange, I must admit. What he’s done in my two spells here has been… I couldn’t have asked for any more, really. Not too far behind him was Daizen Maeda today. I thought he was great in terms of what he does for the team. Goes up and plays centre-forward in the first half, comes wide in the second half, but Yang’s performance was just, as I said, immense.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what was happening before. The first time I saw him, he played wide left in a little seven-a-side game here. My first week or something, I guess, in the training session. He left the full-back for absolute dead, turned both ways, he could go both ways. In fact, I said to him, I thought that he might even be better on the left-hand side. He said it didn’t matter to him, in the way he played today, I’ll go with it.”

That’s quite an amazing turnaround for a player who was reportedly close to leaving in the last few transfer windows, with serval English Championship sides said to be interested in acquiring his signature.

Yang’s major flaw is his consistency. He has the ability that’s not in question, but he fails to show that form on a regular basis, and if he finds that consistency he will be a fantastic player, that’s not in doubt.

Hyunjun Yang of Celtic scores his team’s opening goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on March 14, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The 23 year old former Gangwon FC player has a terrific mentor in Martin O’Neill, a great motivator and man manager, and it’s no coincidence that the South Koreans game went up a notch under the guidance of the veteran Irishman.

Yang boasts a record of 15 goals and 9 assists in 102 appearances for the club, which whilst not the best, it’s not the worst, and considering he’s made a chunk of appearances from the bench, it’s not the best stats, but certainly not the worst.

Hyunjun Yang of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s opening goal with Benjamin Nygren during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on March 14, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Yang has shown he has the mentality to succeed at Celtic, and more importantly he wants to improve. He deserves great credit for his upturn in fortunes, and is worthy of a new deal with his contract due to expire in two years.

https://twitter.com/Dafabet/status/2032907171361349913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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