Celtic have been approached by St Mirren about extending the loan term for 22 year old South Korean midfielder Kwon Hyeok-kyu for another season.
The Celtic summer signing joined the Scottish Champions last summer very much as a project signing and after making a few pre-season friendly appearances against Wolves in Dublin and Athletic Club Bilbao, he quickly dropped out of the manager’s plans.
A January loan move to St Mirren was arranged with Brendan Rodgers saying this about the move: Speaking after his player’s move to Paisley, Rodgers said: “I think for the likes of Kwon, he’s come in from the other side of the world. It’s been a challenge for him.
“I spoke to Stephen Robinson on him, he’s got lots of really good attributes, which is why he was brought to here. To get that experience and playing games is important for his development.
“It happened here when I was here first with Kris Ajer. Kris came in and probably wasn’t going to quite get the game time. He needed experience and went out to Kilmarnock and had a great season. He came back and played and did really, really well for the club.
“Kwon, it’s a really good move for him in many aspects – he can stay in Glasgow and he’s going to a very, very good coach and coaching team. We expect him to improve playing games.”
Kwon certainly hit the ground running in Paisley and even got his first goal for the Saints at the weekend, with the on-loan Celt becoming a star performer in a decent St Mirren side and also a fans favourite.
Now Robinson is keen to extent the contract beyond this summer to take in the entire 2024/25 season.
“He’s been terrific since he came into the club. He’s been a breath of fresh air, a really talented player. He gives us a lot of ownership in games, real composure on the ball,” the St Mirren manager at his pre-match media conference yesterday ahead of their game against Ross County.
“He’s someone we’d really like to keep. We’re speaking to Celtic about it, perhaps keeping him for another season. We’d be very keen to do that.”
