It seems to be a week of mutual appreciation when it comes to reading about Celtic’s players who are representing Japan on international duty.
Just this week we had Brighton and Hove Albion star, Kaoru Mitoma tell us that he feels inspired by Celtic’s Reo Hatate.
And it seems that the feeling is mutual as Hatate speaks about how he is learning and has been learning, from Mitoma even before they both hooked up with the Japan squad this week.
Hatate said [Soccer Digest], “I think Kaoru is leading the national team, so I want to show my value when I go out too. I don’t want to be pulled along, I want to be an equal.
I’ve been watching the (Brighton) games on TV for a long time, so it’s been stimulating, and playing with him I’ve seen first-hand how good he is and how he’s developing, so I want to absorb those things and use them for my own development.
“People tend to focus on the attack, but I was very quick in switching from attack to defence, and the intensity of my pressing has also increased. The attacking part of the game is obvious for everyone to see, but in the defensive part, there were a lot of things I felt when we worked together. I felt we were growing.” [translated by Deep L]
Hatate and Mitoma do have a long history with each other. They both played for Kawasaki Frontale for three seasons before moving on to Celtic and Brighton respectively.
During their time at the J League club, they picked up two league titles, a Japanese Cup and a Japanese Super Cup.
And now, whilst on international duty with Japan, they were reunited three days ago as national boss, Hajime Moriyasu paired them in central midfield in Japan’s 6-0 demolition of El Salvador.
And they will be hoping for more of the same this coming Tuesday as the Samurai Blues are set to face Peru in the final match of the Kirin Cup tournament.
In other news, What Jurgen Klinsmann said to Hyeongyu Oh after Korea loss; Celtic striker needed to hear it
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
