Midfielder Hyeok-kyu Kwon, born on 13 March 2001 in the Korea Republic, presently holds fort at the heart of Celtic's defence. Towering at 6ft 2in (1.9m) and weighing in at 12st 1lb (77kg), the 24-year-old sports the number 22 jersey for the Scottish heavyweights. His present market worth is a rather modest £650k, a figure provided by Transfermarkt. His stint with Celtic is due to end on 31 May 2025 with only a month remaining in his contract.
Prior to Celtic, Kwon donned the colours of Busan I'Park of the K League 2 in his homeland. Starting in January 2019, Kwon spent a good chunk of his career growing with Busan. In his maiden season, he got his first taste of professional football making two league appearances. This number saw a sizeable increase the next season with Kwon turning out 16 times and even managing to bag a goal. 2022 was a relatively quiet year with only five appearances but Kwon bounced back in 2023 making his presence felt 20 times and finding the back of the net twice.
Briefly, in March 2021, the midfielder was loaned out to Gimcheon Sangmu in the K League 1, where he featured 14 times in the league in his first season and a further 19 times in 2022. Kwon wrapped up his loan with Gimcheon and retraced his steps back to Busan I'Park in September 2022.
Fast-forward to July 2023, Kwon bid farewell to his homeland and journeyed to Scotland for a shift with the Celts. The fee involved in the move was roundabout £860k. However, since his arrival at Celtic in the midst of the 2024 - 2025 season, the Korean hasn't made a single appearance.
In a surprising turn of events, in January of 2024, Kwon was dispatched on loan to fellow Premiership side, St Mirren. Although the loan period was brief, he managed to clock eight league appearances.
With his St Mirren escapade behind him, Kwon returned to Celtic in June of 2024. Yet, he didn't linger for long as he was once again sent on loan in August 2024, this time to Hibernian, where he currently stretches his legs on the pitch and has managed an impressive tally of 21 league appearances in the ongoing season.
