SOUTH KOREAN striker Oh Hyeon-gyu will be fully up to speed before Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou unleashes the powerhouse on Scottish football.
The 21-year-old recruit from K-League outfit Suwon Bluewings claimed his first Hoops goal in the 5-1 Scottish Cup fifth round win over St Mirren at Parkhead a week ago to set up a quarter-final clash against Hearts at Tynecastle next month.
Oh came on for his fourth substitute appearance since his £2.5million arrival when he replaced Filipe Jota in the 63rd minute against the Paisley side.
He demonstrated lightning reflexes when he pounced on a spill from keeper Trevor Carson as he attempted to deal with a low, well-drilled drive from skipper Callum McGregor.
PICK IT OUT…Oh Hyeon-gyu snaps up a rebound to score his first Celtic goal in the 5-1 Scottish Cup win over St Mirren at Parkhead a week ago. Reo Hatate, who netted a double, looks on.
Oh is desperate to make his first start for the champions and Postecoglou admitted: “He’s doing everything we’re asking him. Getting stronger every week.
“Obviously, he’s come into a new environment and even the way we train and everything will be different. He needs to take in information, but we’ve tried to sort of be selective in terms of how to use him and when to use him.
“I think in every game that he’s come on he’s made an impact one way or the other.
“Naturally, scoring a goal was a positive. Whenever we do choose to start him, it’s going to be a challenge for him in terms of his fitness because he hasn’t started a game for quite a long time.
“But when I think he’s ready we’ll throw him in and I’m sure he will acquit himself well.”
Postecoglou is preparing for this afternoon’s visit of Aberdeen as they go into the encounter with a nine-point advantage over nearest challengers Rangers in their quest for a second successive title.
During the week, Ibrox gaffer Michael Beale confessed “the probability is low” of his team making up that deficit.
OH, NO, NOT AGAIN…Ange Postecoglou is not listening to outside noise.
The 57-year-old Greek-Australian is paying no heed to outside noise and, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “We’ve got to win. That’s all. If we win all of our games, we don’t have to worry about anything else or anyone else or what anyone else is saying or forecasting in terms of percentages.
“If we win every game between now and the end of the year, here’s a percentage for you – 100 per cent we will win the league.
“So why would we think beyond that? For us, beating Aberdeen gets us three points and if we get those three points we know where we’re going to be sitting in the table.
“I’ve said before that my role in all of that is that we want to finish the season strong. Stronger than how we started.”
This afternoon’s confrontation against the Dons, who will have ex-Celt Barry Robson in caretaker charge again, is the last match before the Viaplay League Cup Final against Rangers at Hampden a week tomorrow, but no-one will be giving the silverware showdown.
Postecoglou added: “The players here understand that being part of this football club means that every game has a consequence.
“The last thing we want to do is not play to our ability, not have a good game and not get the right result as that’s not a great lead up to any game let alone a Cup Final.”
Kyogo Furuhashi has overcome the shoulder problem that forced him off after only 14 minutes against the Paisley side and will be avaliable if required against the Pittodrie outfit.
Scotland international midfielder David Turnbull, however, is out through injury.
