Celtic transfer exits could beckon in the January window under head coach Wilfried Nancy.

Birmingham City are reportedly set to open up their interest in a Celtic star this January transfer window.

The Hoops are coming under fire with new head coach Wilfried Nancy’s tenure kicking off with five defeats out of seven. Losing at Motherwell midweek has only heightened fears ahead of taking on Rangers this weekend, as they sit second in the Premiership, and require recruits in the January transfer window.

There could be exits too as Birmingham City reportedly look to sign a player who has been a regular so far under the ex-Columbus Crew head coach, Yang. The South Korean winger is being asked to play at wing-back and the Blues were said to have launched a deadline day bid to add him to ex-Celtic coach Chris Davies’ team, that already includes ex-Hoops men Tomoki Iwata, Patrick Roberts and Kyogo Furuhashi.

Birmingham City interest in Celtic star addressed

Now the Daily Record claim the English Championship side could come back to the table, but they are not the only side down south keen on the Celtic player. It’s claimed: “South Korean winger Hyunjun Yang has emerged as a key player for under-fire boss Wilfried Nancy but has admirers down south, with Birmingham City ready to reignite their interest after seeing a deadline day swoop collapse.”

Yang shone in his natural winger role under interim boss Martin O’Neill after finding the going tough under the man who brought him to Celtic, Brendan Rodgers. He said: “Well, they say to me that sometimes if it doesn’t work for him, he might go back into his shell. But there’s a player there.

“He does things that we can’t do. He can turn players, he can beat players. He’s strong, and he can manoeuvre it, and he can do all of those things. It’s just a matter of giving him a boost of confidence the whole way through. And even if he loses it, the hardest thing in the world is for a wide player to lose it twice in succession and then try and go again. Only great, great players can do that.

Martin O’Neill on Yang

“So that was the encouragement. If you lose it, if you’ve lost it, trying to do something really positive, don’t worry about it. You’ll get another opportunity, because you feel as if he can go past players. He can make things happen for them.”

Nancy said after defeat at Motherwell, where Yang played just over an hour: "It was not a good performance. We had difficulties while our opponents were connected. The way we conceded the first goal, we can do better with the throw-in. Except for one offence transition, they didn't have chances, but they had the ball. In the second half we were a bit better, more aggressive, where we pushed and had more opportunities.

"Tactically, the way they run together was interesting, when to press, when to stay. In the second half we were more front-footed. My players want to do well, but we struggled a bit defensively in the first half. They are a team who want to unbalance their opponents. We want to keep going, but this was a stop. This stop is going to allow us to be better collectively.