In a significant turn of events surrounding Celtic’s pursuit of Yang Hyun-jun, the relationship between the player and his current club, Gangwon FC, appears to be strained to the breaking point. The turmoil has come to light via a series of revealing tweets from sports journalist, Steve Han.

Despite Celtic having agreed on a transfer deal of €2.5 million along with a 12% sell-on clause with Gangwon FC, the move for the player has stalled, seemingly due to Gangwon’s adamance that the 21-year-old can only leave in the winter.

This decision directly contradicts Celtic’s intentions of bringing Yang in to start the 23/24 season, thereby introducing a major roadblock in what was considered an almost done deal.

According to Han’s reports, the situation has escalated to an embarrassing degree for Gangwon. Yang Hyun-jun himself has expressed public frustration over the club’s lack of communication.

Despite numerous requests from the player’s camp to meet and negotiate the move to Celtic, Gangwon executive Kim Byung-ji has allegedly refused to engage in talks.

The player’s evident discontentment was vocalised in the mixed zone after Gangwon’s 1-0 loss to Incheon, where Yang confessed his willingness to give up his wages to offset the club’s costs in order to facilitate the move this summer.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.