Brendan Rodgers says Yuki Kobayashi isn’t putting a foot wrong at Celtic, there are simply other players ahead of him when selecting match squads on a week-to-week basis.
Kobayashi hasn’t made a single competitive appearance for the Bhoys since Rodgers returned to the club, having made seven appearances under the previous boss following a bargain move from Vissel Kobe.
The Japanese defender is struggling to break onto the substitute’s bench, never mind into the starting eleven. Rodgers has now indicated his best chance of regular football somewhere could be out on loan.
Yuki Kobayashi’s Celtic reality
Asked about the 23-year-old, Rodgers said in a press conference on Friday [Celtic FC]: “I’ve only got 11 players. The squad is too big, that’s the reality of it. I can’t fit in all the players even into a matchday squad.
“He’s certainly someone that’s really professional. In fairness to Yuki, he would have gone out on loan and he just got injured just before he went out. He’s training very well, it’s not that he’s doing anything wrong. His attitude has been fantastic, working hard. But we only have a limited number of centre-halves that we can play.”
From those comments, it doesn’t seem Kobayashi is set to make any imminent appearances. The smart money would be on the club finding him an alternative destination to head out on loan in January. That won’t necessarily be the end of his Celtic career – he is contracted until 2028 after all.
However, given that he is doing everything he can and is firmly on the fringes of Rodgers’ plans, it seems he’ll need to prove himself elsewhere before returning to the Bhoys refreshed and ready to compete.
Cameron Carter-Vickers, Liam Scales, Nat Phillips, Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke and Stephen Welsh are all potentially ahead of him right now and that will make it exceptionally difficult for him to make a breakthrough.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers provides an update on Marco Tilio’s ‘hard’ situation at Celtic.
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