Yang stays with Hoops after club snub Korea
CELTIC have won their battle to keep yang Hyun-jun for the title run-in after South Korea conceded defeat in their hopes of their star man playing at the Under-23s Asian Cup.
And Hearts and Hibs have both also withdrawn Calem Nieuwenhof and Nectarios Triantis from the Australia squad for the Qatar tournament, which doubles as Olympic qualifiers.
yang was named in the squad by boss Hwang Seonhong and he even allowed him and his other overseas players special dispensation to arrive just three days before they kick off against UAE on April 16.
but Celtic were under no obligation to release yang because the matches do not fall under the FIFA calendar and South Korea have called in Hong Si-hoo of local club Incheon United.
The South Korea FA stated: “Hong Si-hoo was selected as a replacement
for yang Hyun-jun, who was originally included in the 23 players to participate in the final Olympic qualifiers, as his team Celtic did not give permission for him to to be selected.”
but the other four overseas players all appear to have got the green light from their clubs to play in the tournament,
Meanwhile, Australia Under-23 boss Tony Vidmar revealed he was rebuffed in his efforts to include capital duo Nieuwenhof and Triantis for the young Socceroos.
The former Rangers defeder said: “Calem and Nectarios were among the overseas players who were not released by their clubs and deemed unavailable.”
yang and Nieuwenhof will now both be available for the Scottish Cup semi-finals for Celtic and Hearts against Aberdeen and Rangers respectively.