Yang U turn in South Korea set to force Celtic to play their overrule card

A club v country row is on the cards for Celtic after South Korea included Yang Hyeon-jun in their Olympic squad for the Asian Under 23s Cup next month...despite their manager hinting he would be left out.

The wide man could be set to miss several post-split Premiership games during the title run-in - if he plays. Celtic are under not obligated to release Yang because the Asian Under 23s Cup, where South Korea will play against UAE, China and Japan in Qatar in the group stages aren't scheduled on official FIFA dates.

South Korean Under 23s manager Hwang Sun-hong - who was also caretaker boss for the full team for their World Cup qualifiers this month - appeared resigned to Yang and his other European-based players missing out earlier this week. He said: "The Olympic qualifying tournament will be a difficult one. We'll have to be prepared for that. If we don't get our European-based players, we will have to come up with a Plan B."

However, despite that statement, he has now named Yang in his 23-man squad with no players on standby and clearly expects the Hoops talent to be there. South Korea's home-based squad will meet up this week, but it's unclear when he expects his overseas players - Yang, Stoke City midfielder Bae Jun-ho, Brentford defender Kim Ji-soo, Minnesota United midfielder Jeong Sang-bin, and Fortuna Dusseldorf midfielder Kim Min-woo - to attend their training camp.

Assuming, he would want to prepare at the very least for at least a week ahead of their first game on April 16, Yang could potentially miss St Mirren at home, Aberdeen away and several post-split games depending on how far they get, with the final not until May 3.
The top three nations qualify for the Paris Olympics in July and August.