If not for injury ending his season early, Hyeokkyu Kwon’s loan move to St Mirren went about as well as Celtic would have hoped for.
Moving at the end of January, Kwon got his first taste of Scottish football with nine appearances in all competitions for the Buddies.
He earned praise for strong performances in wins over Dundee, Hibernian and Aberdeen, also impressing Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.
Kwon recently suffered a hamstring injury that rules him out for St Mirren’s run-in and push for European qualification.
However, if recent comments are anything to go by, he could end up on an extended spell in Paisley. They’re certainly keen for that to happen.
Stephen Robinson on Hyeokkyu Kwon
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson said this week [Daily Record]: “Kwon’s out for the season. He has torn his hamstring. He’s still with us, he’s still having treatment with us. But Kwon is very unlikely to be involved before the end of the season. It was an injury during training. It’s the first hamstring injury we’ve had all season, which was a real disappointment.
“Is he an option for next season? Yeah, we’ve spoken with Celtic but it’s very early stages. Celtic will have to assess what they want from Kwon and how they see him fitting in. We won’t get a decision on that any time soon. We’ll just try to build a squad in the meantime. We’d love to have him back as he has been very good for us.
“But I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire and hopefully we’ll have a couple of things moving by early next week. We’d love to be in a position to wait. Kwon has been fantastic for us. We’ll stay in dialogue with Celtic, as we do with every team we loan players from.
“If that option is there next season then brilliant. If not there may well be other positions that are more of a priority for us. But he’s loved his time here. The only game I didn’t play him was Kilmarnock away. He has started all the other games when fit and available for me. Obviously he couldn’t play in the one against Celtic.”
Another Kwon loan exit makes sense
Kwon left Celtic because he wasn’t getting game time and Rodgers was well-stocked in midfield. That’s likely to be the case again at the start of next season.
As Robinson says, Rodgers will want a look at him during the summer months but it only benefits Kwon and Celtic if he continues to rack up Premiership experience elsewhere.
If he can get a half-season or even a full season under his belt in the division then he’ll be in a much better position to compete for Celtic appearances – especially if he continues to impress and stand out.
St Mirren may not wait for him, but another team in the top flight would surely take a look after fitting in well under Robinson.