This Celtic team are renowned for their fitness ability. And it was all borne from the former Celtic manager, Ange Postecoglou’s mantra of ‘We Never Stop’.
For the past two seasons, we literally didn’t. We could count on two hands and two feet the number of late goals the team scored to turn what would have been a draw into a three-point victory. And it is those moments that helped us secure five trophies out of six.
So you would think that for pre-season, the players would take the time to relax, put their feet up and have some time off. Especially after a gruelling international week in June.
Some may well have, of that I have no doubt but when you look at Reo Hatate in this video posted on Twitter, the Japanese midfielder has shown the extra yards he has put in to get ready for the new season under Brendan Rodgers.
The Celtic midfielder looks like an absolute machine! Ripped and ready to go, it is clear from this that Hatate is looking to impress Rodgers from the get-go.
I had written earlier that Celtic must make Hatate’s contract the next one that the club must look to extend.
In that piece, I put it down to his goal-scoring threat, his ability to open up play for the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi and his dominance in midfield.
Let’s add his professionalism to that. How much will this spur on other players to get their fitness up in order to challenge Hatate for a first-team slot?
I know it would inspire me to up my game. In fact, you would have no choice but to if you have designs on even trying to get into the Hoops first team.
Hatate is the consummate professional. This video shows just how committed he is to improving his football through his fitness regime.
And I’ll tell you this if he looks this good before pre-season training starts, just how good is he going to be when Brendan Rodgers is finished with him? That is a frightening prospect for our rivals.
In other news, The next contract extension Celtic must take care of
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