Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers decided that he wanted to bolster his attacking options during the recent January transfer window ahead of the second half of the season.
The Hoops boss swooped to sign Nicolas Kuhn on a permanent deal from Rapid Wien and centre-forward Adam Idah on loan from Norwich City, with no option to make the deal permanent.
Giorgos Giakoumakis' departure from Parkhead in February of last year – to join Atlanta United in the MLS – meant that the Scottish giants only had two senior striker options for almost 12 months.
Kyogo Furuhashi and Hyeon-gyu Oh were the club's only number nines during the first half of the campaign, which led to a swoop for Idah to add another operator in that area of the pitch.
The Ireland international has enjoyed a fantastic start to life in Glasgow and his form has reduced Oh's role within the squad even further, which is further evidence of the Ange Postecoglou signing being a flop.
How much Celtic paid to sign Hyeon-gyu Oh
Celtic reportedly agreed a fee of £2.5m to sign the South Korea international from Suwon Bluewings in January of last year, under the Australian head coach.
It was a sizeable fee to pay for the young marksman but he had just come off the back of an impressive goalscoring campaign in the K League 1.
Oh produced 14 goals and two assists in 38 appearances in the division throughout the 2022 season, which shows that he was in scoring form ahead of his move to Glasgow.
However, there were warning signs for the Hoops as the South Korean forward only completed 67% of his attempted passes and lost 60% of his physical duels that term.
Appearances
38
21
Starts
26
11
Goals
14
13
Big chances created
2
4
Pass accuracy
67%
74%
Duel success rate
40%
40%
As you can see in the table above, Giakoumakis had performed better during the 2021/22 Scottish Premiership campaign than Oh had in K League 1 in 2022, which did not suggest that the £2.5m signing would come in as an upgrade on the Greek international.
That has proven to be the case as the 22-year-old forward has failed to nail down a place in the starting XI and has not scored goals on a consistent basis, whilst earning more than several key first-team performers.
As per Salary Sport, Oh is currently on £9k-per-week at Parkhead, which is £468k-per-year. That is more than Tomoki Iwata (£7.6k-per-week), Stephen Welsh (£8.6k-per-week), Luis Palma (£6k-per-week), Hyun-jun Yang (£6k-per-week), and Liam Scales (£5k-per-week).
The attacker has rinsed Celtic as his performances on the pitch do not match up to the standard of his wages, particularly when you consider that Scales and Palma have been a key performer for the side this season.
Hyeon-gyu Oh's Celtic goalscoring record
The former Suwon Bluewings star has scored 12 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants in just over a year at the club.
This means that he is still yet to reach the tally that Giakoumakis hit in his first season (13) with the Hoops in just 21 appearances and 11 starts, as shown in the previous comparison.
Oh racked up six goals in 16 Premiership appearances during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign under Postecoglou as he played second fiddle to Kyogo, but only managed one goal in five domestic cup outings.
This season, under Rodgers, the 22-year-old dud has only found the back of the net five times in 26 matches in all competitions for the Bhoys, with two of those goals coming off the bench in a 6-0 thumping of Aberdeen in November.
He is currently on a run of nine games without a goal or an assist for Celtic, and has been an unused substitute in each of the club's last three matches, which shows that the attacker is not fancied by the manager as Kyogo and Idah have both been preferred ahead of him.
Oh has fallen down the pecking order since Idah's arrival as the Ireland international has scored five goals and produced one assist in seven league appearances for the club, compared to the South Korean's five goals and zero assists in 20 league games.
These statistics show that the £9k-per-week dud, who was signed for £2.5m, is currently rinsing Celtic as he is earning a big wage, in comparison to players with a greater role within the team, and has not provided much quality on the pitch throughout his time at the club.
Liam Scales' Celtic stats this season
He earns £4k more per week than Scales and that does not appear to be value for money when you consider the central defender's impact on the field for Rodgers.
In the 2023/24 campaign so far, the Ireland international has started 27 Premiership matches at the heart of the Celtic defence and caught the eye with his strong performances.
The left-footed titan returned from his season-long loan spell with Aberdeen last term and has worked hard to land a regular spot in the starting XI ahead of summer signings Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke.
Appearances
27
18
Ball recoveries per game
6.3
5.4
Interceptions per game
0.9
0.6
Tackles per game
1.6
0.8
Ground duel success rate
70%
58%
Aerial duel success rate
62%
73%
As you can see in the table above, Scales' performances stack up well against Hoops star Cameron Carter-Vickers, who has only beaten him with his ability to win aerial duels against opposition forwards.
The Irish colossus, as shown by those statistics, has dominated attackers on the ground and in the air throughout the season, which means that players are rarely able to get the better of him in physical contests.
He has established himself as a regular and reliable starter in the league for Celtic with his strong performances, which further highlights how much of a flop Oh – who earns considerably more money in wages – has been.
The South Korea international also earns more than Palma, who has produced six goals and nine assists in 23 league outings this season, and that reinforces this point.
Therefore, Oh is rinsing Celtic as he was bought for millions and earns more per week than several key performers, despite not being fancied by the manager at present.