Celtic man earns maiden international call-up alongside Tottenham and Wolves stars as club form recognised
Celtic have a decision to make regarding his long-term when he returns
Celtic midfielder Kwon Hyeok-Kyu, who is currently on loan at Hibernian, has received his first call-up for the South Korea national team ahead of the next international break, as per their official X account. The 23-year-old has previously represented his country at Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 levels.
He will now look to get his first senior cap in their upcoming World Cup qualifying games. They take on Jordan on 10th October and Iraq on 15th October.
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Kwon will link up with Tottenham Hotspur ace Son Heung-min and Wolves attacker Hwang Hee-chan as he looks to break into the team. Bayern Munich’s centre-back Kim Min-jae is another one of their stars.
Celtic gave him the green light to link up with Hibs on a temporary basis in the last transfer window to get some more game time under his belt. He has since made four league appearances for the Edinburgh outfit.
He rocked up at Celtic Park in July 2023 and penned a five-year deal with the Scottish Premiership champions running until 2028. However, he is yet to play competitively for Brendan Rodgers’ side and was also loaned out to St Mirren during the second-half of the last campaign.
Kwon started his career at Busan IPark and broke into their first-team as a youngster, scoring three goals in 43 outings. He also featured for Gimcheon Sangmu, who are the sports division of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces.
Celtic could see him as one for the future and will be keeping tabs on how he does at both Easter Road and with South Korea. After loaning him in mid-August, Hibs boss David Gray said: “Hyeokkyu provides us with another option in midfield being able to play as both a deeper 6 and as an 8. As a player, he’s a great athlete, he’s very competitive, and comfortable on the ball. He showed these capabilities during an impressive loan spell last season. We’re delighted to bring him to the Club and look forward to working with him.”
Meanwhile, their Sporting Director Malky Mackay added: “We’re really pleased to make Hyeokkyu our ninth signing of the summer transfer window. He is another top professional to add to the First Team group, comes with a good pedigree, and adds a real presence on the pitch. We’d like to thank Brendan Rodgers and Celtic for the smooth handling of the move, and how quickly and efficiently we were able to get this deal done.”
Kwon isn’t the only player out on loan from Celtic right now. They have Gustaf Lagerbielke away at FC Twente, Marco Tilio at Melbourne City, Alexandro Bernabei at Internacional and Johnny Kenny at Shamrock Rovers, as well as Tobi Oluwayemi at Dunfermline Athletic, Dane Murray at Queen’s Park and Ben Summers at Admira Wacker.
The Hoops won 6-0 away at St Johnstone last time out and have won all six of their Scottish Premiership fixtures so far. They are joint-top of the table with Aberdeen and are five points above rivals Rangers as they prepare for their upcoming Champions League away trip to Borussia Dortmund.
