Over the last couple of days, there have been plenty of fears over how many players Celtic could be missing for the Glasgow derby.
Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that any of the Celtic stars called up for international duty at the end of the month will indeed go [Daily Record]. Of course they will. There’s literally nothing Celtic nor the manager can do to stop them.
Japan and Australia are both involved in crucial World Cup qualifiers that mean a lot to their respective countries. That means that as many as 5 Celtic first-team stars are eligible to depart. Tom Rogic could head off with the Aussies whilst Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, and Yosuke Ideguchi can be selected by Japan.
The internationals will eat into February, meaning they will overlap with Celtic’s crucial Glasgow derby vs Rangers on February 2nd. As expected then, there’s a bit of a panic going around over how light the Hoops could be.
But one of Ange’s new signings looks primed to be fit and available to face Rangers instead of jetting away with Japan – that man being Ideguchi.
Ideguchi does indeed have 15 Japanese international caps to his name. But he hasn’t been called up to the national team since 2019. His last appearance came in the East Asia Football Championship, with the midfielder having yet to feature in the current World Cup qualifying campaign.
Yosuke Ideguchi likely to be available for Celtic to face Rangers
Whilst Maeda hasn’t featured for Japan in 2 years either, he was called up for the November squad to face Vietnam and Oman respectively. The same goes for Reo Hatate, who’s yet to make his debut for the Samurai Blue.
Given their recent appearances, it’s highly likely they’ll be called up again. Especially given the high-profile nature of their moves to Celtic Park at the moment. It would seem strange if manager Hajime Moriyasu snubbed them given their form and stock.
Ideguchi, however, likely still has some convincing to do. That makes him the most likely to be available for the game against Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side at Parkhead.
Celtic will still have 2 fixtures to play in before the international contingent head off. But you can’t see Ideguchi forcing his way into the Japan setup based on those fixtures against Hibs and Alloa alone.
Hopefully, however, he’s able to make an instant impact and give us an extra option against Rangers. The central midfielder can play in a deeper or advanced role in the engine room. It remains to be seen where Postecoglou sees him at in the long term.
But in terms of those most likely to stay behind during the internationals? The former Gamba Osaka man tops the list.
In other news, Anthony Ralston delivers class response to being dropped for Celtic cup final
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