Celtic star Reo Hatate got a mention from his former boss Ange Postecoglou on Friday.
The Japanese midfielder starred for 18 months under the Australian, helping Celtic to four trophies. Hatate is tipped to make the club a lot of money when he eventually moves on, although he arrived without a huge amount of fanfare.
The 25-year-old was starring for Kawasaki Frontale when we swopped in late 2021. Postecoglou was all too aware of his talents, as well as Brighton star Kaoru Mitoma, who was featuring in the same side.
When asked to talk about under-appreciated markets at his Friday press conference, the Tottenham Hotspur boss reflected: “People rave about Mitoma. I watched his debut in Japan on the opposition bench.
“He came straight from uni and destroyed us. Him and Hatate that day, we played Kawasaki and they both just blew us away.
“I did [try to sign Mitoma] but Brighton were too sharp for me. I ended up getting Reo. I said to the guys at Celtic, you watch Mitoma because we he gets to the Premier League he’s going to rip it apart.
“It made me take that open mindedness to my next role. When I went to Scotland I said I’d bring three or four Japanese players over.
“When you’re looking at players, don’t just look at what everyone else is looking at because you’d be surprised.” (Talk Tottenham)
With the Australian now no longer on our books, it is notable that Celtic have continued down the same path in this new era.
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers has made the point on a number of occasions that he is there to develop players the club provide for him.
This summer’s work has continued to see Celtic shop in markets that could be considered ‘untapped’. South Korea, Australia and Norway are just three of the nations we have signed talent from.
The task for Celtic in Asia now is making sure that the standard continues to be high. Kyogo Furuhashi and Hatate have been particularly elite Celtic signings, but not every one will come off.
With Brighton, Tottenham and others now likely to be looking in that direction too, the battle is on.
In other news, Joe Hart gave a brilliant response as the word “crisis” was put to him in the media
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
