Celtic’s first few pre-season games have already been concluded, and now a trip to Portugal awaits the team.
Brendan Rodgers will be fairly pleased with Celtic’s work, as the first few matches are all about building up that fitness and getting through some tough early stages of pre-season.
On Tuesday evening, Celtic beat Cork City in Ireland, as the Bhoys left it late to win, and a few interesting things came out of that match.
Celtic fans saw Hayato Inamura for the first time, and it’s fair to say that he impressed, even though Rodgers was seemingly having other ideas with the defender before a ball was kicked.
- READ MORE: Celtic fans are already calling Hayato Inamura the ‘Japanese Paolo Maldini’ after impressive debut
Brendan Rodgers’ ‘strange’ comments about Celtic’s new signing Hayato Inamura
Look, it’s only one game, and it’s crucial not to go overboard, but Inamura was being spoken about as someone who wasn’t even going to be part of Rodgers’ plans for next season.
That surprised the Open Goal panel, as they couldn’t understand why the Celtic manager was hinting at loaning out the 23-year-old before he had trained or kicked a ball.
Celtic-mad Paul Slane labelled it all ‘strange’, but now it seems as though Rodgers is making a U-turn, and it was added how this could prove to be a ‘brilliant bit of business’ from the club.
“The left-sided centre-back, when he came in, Rodgers said, ‘he isn’t ready’,” said Slane.
Andy Halliday responded: “What about those comments?! He hasn’t even trained, and he said, ‘he is going to go on loan.'”
Slane then added: “Rodgers signed the 23-year-old. He isn’t even in the door yet, and Rodgers is like, ‘he won’t be part of my plans. He will be going out on loan.’
“But Rodgers has now backtracked because he has been that good since he signed. He was unbelievable (against Cork), and then Rodgers has said, ‘he has surprised me.’ So, he is going to be part of the plans now.
“I think that’s so strange. To say that before you have seen him training or anything, and he is 23. It’s not like he is 17 or 18, so that could be a brilliant bit of business. He can play left-sided centre-back and left-back. It looks like it can be an absolute cracker. £250k. Incredible bit of business that. Looking early.”
What has Rodgers said since about Inamura
Celtic have a history of bringing in unknown gems, or players from outside the glitz and glamour, and transforming them into stars.
A fair few have arrived this summer, including teenage striker Callum Osmand from Fulham, as he is yet to taste senior football in his career.
You can only judge what you have purchased from what they produce on the field of play, regardless of what background they come into it.
Yes, Inamura has only been playing for a few years, but he is already getting someone like Rodgers to change his mind.
“One hundred per cent,” Rodgers told Record Sport about a change of mind. “I’m not fixed on it. The feeling from us all was, okay, we’ll bring him in and see how he does pre-season, thinking that he may need to get out and play.
“But I always judge players in the pre-season on how they look and are they going to be capable. He’s certainly shown in the few days of training that he’s so smooth with the ball. Not only that, he plays forward.
“When you play for Celtic or any of the big clubs, you have to pass the ball forward. You’ve got to have the personality to take the ball and play, and he has that.
“I’ve got to say, he surprised me. We knew that he was going to come in, and I felt that maybe it was going to be a bit more settling in for him and maybe alone or whatever, but we’ll see how he works. He’s obviously not been playing that long – But in these first days training, he’s so competent with the ball. He’s a good size.
“But his comfort on the ball, his willingness to attack is really good. So we’ll see how he looks over the remaining games.”
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