Tomoki Iwata is set to become a permanent Celtic player.
The Japanese midfielder joined in January on what the club called an initial loan. (Celtic)
At the time of the signing, Celtic also revealed that there was a “compulsory purchase clause” in place for Iwata.
This meant that he would join the club on a long-term deal after an initial six months in Scotland.
The situation seems pretty clear cut as far as Celtic are concerned and it is important to note that a similar arrangement was in place with Yokohama F. Marinos for Daizen Maeda a year earlier.
A report in the Daily Record in December made it sound like there was more nuance to the situation.
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The outlet reported that Celtic had to take up the option of a permanent move, with the deadline set at June 9.
A quick glance at the calendar tells us that day is today (Friday). So can we expect an official Iwata announcement soon?
Well, our look back at the Celtic Twitter feed from last summer shows no Maeda tweet.
Instead, it seems like the confirmation came from F. Marinos.
On May 23 2022, they tweeted: “It has been decided that the player who is on loan to Celtic FC will permanently transfer to Celtic FC.”
So it seems likely that @prompt_fmarinos on Twitter could be the place to look again.
Iwata made 18 appearances for Celtic in all competitions last season.
He has shown more than enough to suggest that he could be an important player next season, even if Ange Postecoglou has now moved on.
In other news, the SPFL have announced a record prize pot for next season’s League Cup