Player who left Celtic had transfer 'options' in England as Rangers man defends 'amazing' teammate

Celtic are hoping to win the title once again this year under Brendan Rodgers. Rangers are aiming to pip them to top spot though.

Aberdeen have also had an impressive start to the new season. Here is a look at some of the latest news and rumours...

Attacker on Celtic exit

Oh Hyeon-gyu has said he had ‘options’ in the Championship in England before leaving Celtic for Genk. The South Korea international, who has 11 caps for his country, cut ties with the Hoops in the last transfer window.

He has opened up about his exit and has said: "I had lost my place in my national team because I was no longer playing for Celtic. It was then I knew I had to get a transfer. Now I am in a good place here.

"I scored 12 goals in total for Celtic, but I hardly played in the last six months. They had brought in a new striker (Adam Idah), someone with a different profile - a big, strong boy - and they had to find a solution for me. "I thought that was a shame at first because I really loved Celtic. It's a great club.

"But when Genk came calling, I didn't hesitate. I had a few options in the English Championship, but I just wanted to come here. When you see all the players who came through here - Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Leandro Trossard and more. That's impressive, isn't it?"

Celtic signed Oh in 2023 from Suwon Samsung Bluewings to bolster their attacking options. He went on to make 47 appearances in all competitions and scored 12 goals.

Rangers man defends teammate

Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers has jumped to the defence of teammate Connor Barron after his tough night against Lyon in Europe last week. The Gers were beaten 4-1 by the Ligue 1 giants.

Dessers has said: “Was that a big learning curve for Connor? For sure. Look, he’s been amazing until now. But this is also part of being a football player. Sometimes you miss a chance or misplace a pass like he did and the other team scores out of it. It’s also about the quality and the difference at this level. If he did that on the weekend, maybe it wouldn’t be killed off.

“But in Europe, they immediately kill it off. That’s part of football. When you have the money Lyon have and you can buy players at that level, it’s normal. The sparks they had on Thursday night, those flashes of quality - they can be defining moments which decide games. We’ll support Connor if he needs it. But I expect him to be fine. He’s a good guy, with a great mentality and he just needs to keep going. It was a tough night for us on Thursday and hard to take.”

He added: “We’re still developing as a team. That’s not just in Europe but also in the league. We know we’re not there yet and there’s still a lot of room to grow. If we keep doing that, we’ll only get better. Then, maybe we’ll need a win against a team like Betis for example if we want to really progress in Europe.”