Celtic can drop Yang with move for “top-level talent” who earns £150k-p/w

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he wants to add more players to his attacking arsenal before the end of the summer transfer window.

Speaking after the 1-0 win over St Mirren, the Hoops boss said: “It’s just about improving. There’s areas that we want to improve in the forward line. That’s something that we hope we can do over these remaining weeks.”

The Scottish Premiership champions kicked off their defence of the title with a win, thanks to a late goal from Luke McCowan, but it was far from an assured performance.

There were some underwhelming performances from a number of Celtic players across the park on Sunday, and one of those flops was Hyun-jun Yang.

Why Celtic need to sign a new right winger

After selling Nicolas Kuhn to Como, the South Korean forward appears to be the first-choice right-wing option for the Hoops, and he does not look ready for that responsibility.

Yang is a very capable and useful squad player for Celtic to have, as evidenced by his return of six goals and six assists in 34 appearances in all competitions last term.

The 23-year-old forward has not shown that he can deliver outstanding quality on a consistent basis, though, and failed to register a single shot, completed dribble, or chance created in almost an hour against St Mirren.

Yang did not take his opportunity to show that he can be the replacement for Kuhn, which is why the club should be pushing to bring in a new right winger to allow Rodgers to ditch the South Korea international from the starting XI.

Calcio Mercato recently reported that Celtic are interested in an ambitious loan swoop for Liverpool outcast Federico Chiesa, alongside Premier League side Fulham.

Why Celtic should sign Federico Chiesa

The Italy international, who is reportedly on £150k-per-week wages at Anfield, would come in as a big upgrade on Yang and allow the manager to drop the current Hoops forward down to the bench.

Chiesa, who was described as a “top-level player” by commentator Seb Hutchinson, only made 14 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool last season, starting once in the Premier League, which means that it is difficult to judge him on his time in England.

The 27-year-old star’s form for Juventus in the 2023/24 campaign, prior to his move to Anfield, though, suggests that he could be a terrific player for Rodgers to call upon.

As you can see in the table above, Chiesa caught the eye as both a goalscorer and a creative threat across 33 outings in the Serie A for the Old Lady that term.

The Italian forward scored more goals (nine) in one of Europe’s major leagues than Yang has managed in over two years at Celtic in all competitions (seven), which speaks to the gap in quality between the two right-sided attackers when it comes to scoring goals.

Chiesa, who scored 32 goals during his time at Juventus, could thrive if given regular game time as a loan signing for the Scottish giants, after a year of riding the bench for Liverpool.

The Italy international thrived as a regular for the Old Lady in the 2023/24 campaign and could get back to his best, providing a regular threat as a scorer and a creator of goals, by coming in to replace Yang as a starter at Parkhead.

It is not an easy deal for Celtic to do, though, as he is a full international who has proven himself in one of the best leagues in Europe, in Italy, so is likely to have plenty of suitors, including the aforementioned Fulham.

If the Scottish giants can find a way to agree a deal with Liverpool and convince Chiesa to make the move, though, then Rodgers can ruthlessly ditch Yang from the starting XI.