Shin Yamada is widely expected to join Celtic in the coming days.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed Yamada’s Celtic medical is imminent with a summer transfer move from the J League set to be completed real soon.
The Celtic manager appears to be dipping his toe in the Asian market once again after Celtic’s recent successes with Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda.
And it appears that a J League stat where Yamada outperforms Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi could be one of the reasons Rodgers wants the 25-year-old striker at Celtic Park.
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Shin Yamada’s J League rank for pace will stun Celtic supporters
Yamada is a relatively unknown striker from the J League but is still seen as good enough by the Celtic scouts to pull on the green and white Hoops.
One of the reasons is that the former Kawasaki Frontale’s blistering pace may well have raised Celtic’s talent spotters’ eyebrows.
The J League clocked Yamada’s top speed last season at an incredible 35.4km/ph. Compare that to Kyogo and Maeda’s during their time in Japan, Celtic fans will be stunned to learn that Yamada is faster than the Parkhead heroes.
In 2021, the J League clocked Maeda’s top speed at exactly 35km/ph and Kyogo’s at 34.8km/ph.
Yamada was Japan’s second-fastest player of the 2024/25 season just 0.1km/ph behind Fagiano Okayama’s Welik Popo.
More Shin Yamada J League stats that will surprise Celtic supporters
As well as being one of the fastest players in Japan, it appears that Yamada is also one of the best tacklers.
With an 88.9% success rate, the Celtic-bound striker is 46th best tackler in the league. Considering there are 20 teams in Japan’s top flight, that is impressive.
Yamada also averages 1.7 shots per game and was also involved in almost 16 plays per game for Kawasaki Frontale.
Discipline-wise, Yamada was also one of the best behaved players in the J League last season having been booked on just two occasions.
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