Greg Taylor seems to be a big fan of his Celtic team-mate Yuki Kobayashi.
The Japanese defender hasn’t had a great deal of time in a Celtic shirt since his January move from Vissel Kobe.
Kobayashi has featured just four times, although three of them have been full 90 minute appearances.
He’s looked pretty handy so far with the team conceding just one goal during his time on the pitch.
Taylor has only started in the same game as Kobayashi once. But he seems to rate him very highly.
“Yuki is unbelievable,” he said recently, as reported by Football Scotland. “Especially being on the ball on that left side with the left foot, I think it’ll also help Carl.
“Carl defends unbelievably, but it’s not easy playing the left side when he is right-footed.
“He does outstandingly well even playing out with that, but it gives us good balance with Yuki maybe coming in as a left-footer, so there is definitely more to come from us as a team.”
While Taylor may be pretty keen to bandy around superlatives, as is shown in the above quotes, it’s still exciting to hear him talking so positively about Kobayashi.
His comments about the defender being left-sided are particularly important and something Ange Postecoglou has mentioned on a number of occasions.
“He’s a left-sided centre-back, and they’re hard to find,” was Postecoglou’s assessment shortly after the deal was announced.
Kobayashi has had to wait for his big chance with the form of both Starfelt and Carter-Vickers not helping his playing prospects.
But Carter-Vickers missing the rest of the season means that his opportunity has arrived.
He’s almost certain to start at Tynecastle on Sunday, a ground where he has already featured.
Then there’s the small matter of a derby at Ibrox with the Scottish Cup final just around the corner.
These are big games. But Taylor seems to think Kobayashi can handle it. We should all be excited to see what’s to come.
In other news, Inverness boss Billy Dodds has been speaking about the kick-off time for the Scottish Cup final
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