Celtic’s transfer business over the past two seasons has, quite rightly, been lauded by the fans and those in the media. The gems that Ange Postecoglou has unearthed has been quite astonishing. Especially those from Japan.
Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda have all been extremely successful since signing for the club last season. And we haven’t even seen the best of Yuki Kobayashi or Tomoki Iwata yet.
But that success makes other clubs sit up and take notice of that market which, in turn, could make it a bit more difficult for Celtic to negotiate signing the best talents should clubs from bigger leagues come sniffing.
But Ange Postecoglou isn’t too concerned. He knows he already has an advantage over other clubs that he could use to get a signing over the line.
Ange believes that using the current players he has to sell the club to potential new recruits will stand him in good stead this summer.
Ange said [The Herald], “I think it definitely helps. Not just because we are signing players and giving them an opportunity, but the players’ experiences help.
“The best feedback you can get in life is from a person who is involved. All the players who have come here have appreciated how welcoming everyone has been and how the club has looked after them, and how they have enjoyed their time in the city and how the supporters have embraced them.
“That is better ammunition for us in terms of selling who we are, than us just trying to tell people what we can provide. It’s coming straight from the people involved and I think that’s been tremendously helpful for us.
“It’s a market that will become more and more competitive, no doubt. It already is competitive. So having some trust there from people is enormously helpful for us.”
Celtic building roots in Japan to create future success
Celtic have been doing great work behind the scenes to install a foothold in Japan. The recently announced tour will help expose the club to the Japanese and Asian markets.
Alongside that, Celtic also held a training camp in Japan that covered three major cities in the country over the course of 10 days last month. The camps visited Tokyo, Fukuoka and Hiroshima in an initiative that will help not only build roots but it could kick start the desire of one of Japan’s next generational talents to come and join Celtic in the future.
There is no doubt that Celtic are taking great steps to take advantage of the club’s new-found stature in the region and it is something that could benefit us for years to come.
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