Gangwon FC winger Yang Hyun-joon (21) will head to Scotland’s prestigious Celtic. There was a lot of noise during the transfer process, but when Yang Hyun-joon left, Gangwon CEO Kim Byung-ji (53)’s response made both Yang Hyun-joon and Gangwon happy.

On the 15th, the Gangwon club officially announced that Yang Hyun-joon will move to Celtic. 토토

Yang Hyun-joon remained in Gangwon last season even though there was an offer from MLS in the U.S. when CEO Lee Young-pyo was in Gangwon. Instead, he received a promise to send an offer from Europe in the 2023 season.

However, at the end of the 2022 season, Gangwon was replaced by CEO Kim Byung-ji from Lee Young-pyo, and CEO Kim was also aware of the issue after receiving it from Lee Young-pyo. And when an offer came from Celtic in the summer transfer market, Yang Hyun-joon asked CEO Kim to allow him to go to Europe based on his last promise.

However, CEO Kim had no choice but to think about it because Gangwon was rapidly changing and urgent enough to change from Choi Yong-soo to Yoon Jung-hwan in the relegation zone (11th out of 12 teams). If the team’s key players go out, it is not easy for the relegation zone to improve their performance.

In the meantime, Yang Hyun-joon openly said through the media, “I want to go to Celtic because I promised last year. CEO Kim Byung-ji said, “I don’t meet you,” and even the situation went seriously, saying, “If I don’t have enough transfer fees, I will pay my annual salary.”

Suddenly, the Gangwon club became a club that prevented young players from entering Europe, and criticism was also poured on CEO Kim Byung-ji. A past interview in which CEO Kim talked about not being able to go abroad when he was a player was also summoned, fueling the fire.

However, CEO Kim told the media, “There is a critical mistake on Yang Hyun-joon’s side, but we will not reveal it,” but also mentioned another mistake by Yang Hyun-joon, who did not include a buyout (if it is more than a certain amount of money). At the same time, he said he would find an agreement.

Until then, there was still a lot of criticism against CEO Kim and Gangwon, but Kim Byung-ji made a great turnaround with his long-standing experience through the soccer community, the media, and YouTube. He immediately released a photo of him meeting Yang Hyun-joon and announced his transfer through Gangwon FC’s official YouTube channel. In addition, he showed Yang Hyun-joon headlock and passed Yang Hyun-joon’s “wrong” with fun and sense.

In the meantime, Gangwon raised Yang Hyun-joon’s transfer fee even a little more and received a transfer fee of more than 3 billion won from Celtic. Considering that national team striker Cho Kyu-sung recorded a transfer fee of 4 billion won when he went to Mitwillan, Denmark, Yang Hyun-joon is not a national team player, but the soccer community feels that it is a very large transfer fee. Rather, Yang Hyun-joon took advantage of Celtic’s desire to go to Celtic, taking advantage of the negotiation advantage, making it more advantageous for Gangwon.

Yang Hyun-joon, who could have been seen by Gangwon fans as a “player who unconditionally wants to leave the team.” And Gangwon, which could have given ordinary fans the perception of it as a “club that doesn’t send Europe.” In these two difficult situations, CEO Kim Byung-ji drew a transfer finish that both Yang Hyun-joon and Gangwon-do could laugh at with his determination to turn criticism into praise at once and his pleasant and sensible response.

It was Yang Hyun-joon’s transfer response, which shone with CEO Kim Byung-ji’s ability to successfully serve as the longest-serving player and vice chairman of the Korea Sports and Culture Foundation, YouTube and the Korea Football Association after retirement.