Wanted man Cho Gue–Sung has been gifted a welcome potential farewell offering from his club in South Korea - a £25,000 bonus as a reward for his World Cup exploits.
The Celtic target is wanted by boss Ange Postecoglou revealed on Tuesday he is hoping to announce new signings soon. Cho was a star for the Asian nation at the Qatar tournament and became the first South Korean player to score two goals at a World Cup game when he netted a double against Ghana in the group stage. And he's been handed a bumper bonus as a thank you, along with five other players, by the billionaire owner of his club, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC.
Chung Eui-sun is the owner of the club and the chairman of the Hyundai Motors group and was so impressed with his players' showing during South Korea's run to the Round of 16 of the World Cup that he dipped into his own pocket to give them a financial reward. Cho was handed the £25,000 bonus along with teammates Kim Jin-su, Kim Moon-hwan, Paik Seung-ho, Song Bum-keun and Song Min-kyu.
Chung said: "All of the players from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors did extremely well and the club are very proud of them." Cho has also been linked with a move to Turkish giants Fenerbahce and Ligue 1 team Rennes.
Meanwhile, Ferencvaros manager Stanislav Cherchesov has dampened speculation linking his World Cup star Aissa Laidouni with Celtic after insisting he was one of the best players in the tournament.
The Tunisian midfielder impressed during the Qatar tournament and the Hoops have been credited with being the leading pursuers of the 26-year-old. Ferencvaros chief executive Pal Orosz revealed this week that they would not be willing to let Laidouni go for less than 10 million Euros, around £8.7 million.
And their manager Cherchesov - who was in charge of Russia when they hosted the World Cup four years ago - insists he can't wait for Laidouni to resume the Hungarian season with them, after their winter training camps.
He said: "One of the best players we saw at the World Cup plays for Ferencvaros - Aissa Laidouni. I was delighted, but not surprised to see how well he played in the tournament. He was outstanding against Denmark, Australia and France. I am very much looking forward to working with him again for the remainder of the season.
"We have a couple of winter training camps before the season resumes at the end of January and he is a very important player for us."
The Budapest club's chief Orosz said this week: "There is interest in Aissa, but there are no specific concrete offers yet. The price of a player of this quality is high. We are talking about 10 million Euros."
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