Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou sounds eager to start working with Tomoki Iwata again as the new signing arrives in Scotland this weekend to embark on a bold new career step.
The J-League player of the year is en route to Glasgow today and will arrive in the city tonight before taking in tomorrow’s match at Celtic Park from the stands.
Asked by 67 Hail Hail about what kind of role he will play at the Bhoys, Postecoglou was happy to leave things open-ended, responding: “He can play multiple positions, which I think will help us. We’ve tried to sign two or three players recently who can do that for us because I think it’s important from a squad perspective. We’re a club that is always going to have a heavy fixture schedule so having guys who can play in more than one area helps you in terms of maintaining performance.
“I obviously know Tomoki well. For us, I think he can play two or three roles equally comfortably. Where he settles we’ll see. That could depend on team balance, or depend on his development and where he’s most comfortable in our system.
“What I do know about him is that he’s a real intelligent guy and he’ll take it all in. He’ll push himself to get up to speed as quickly as possible. He’ll be keen to make an impact as soon as he can. He arrives tonight so hopefully he’ll be at the game tomorrow and get a taste of it. We’ll start work with him and see how we go.”
Postecoglou signed the versatile player for Yokohama F.Marinos originally so, as he said, will know exactly what Celtic are getting with this latest signing.
Iwata has featured regularly as a defensive midfielder or centre-back in the past and can also play as a right-back, going by his playing history. The smart money is on him becoming a midfield option but it’ll certainly be interesting to see how he is deployed.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou soothes concerns surrounding Celtic defender Josip Juranovic after Ibrox display.
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