January proved to be a busy month for Ange Postecoglou and his recruitment staff during the transfer window.
The 57-year-old made some major changes to his squad, introducing four new signings in Alistair Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Tomoki Iwata and Hyeongyu Oh.
There were also departures from Parkhead last month, as key players such as Josip Juranovic moved on to take on a fresh challenge.
During all four of his transfer windows as Celtic manager, Postecoglou has proved to be pretty good at moving on fringe players from his squad.
That was no different last month, with summer signings Moritz Jenz and Oliver Abildgaard seeing their year-long deals at Parkhead cut short.
However, following the conclusion of the transfer market across Europe last night, there remains one player who might have been on the hunt for a move in January – Yosuke Ideguchi.
Reports in early December indicated that the midfielder would be allowed to leave the club after a frustrating year with little first-team football.
It has been an extremely unlucky 12 months for Ideguchi since his arrival, after suffering a number of injury struggles at unfortunate times.
At this stage, most would agree that it might be best for the Japanese international to get a move elsewhere in order to get back playing regularly.
As mentioned, a move to Europe isn’t going to happen after the window shut at 12 PM last night. However, there will still be opportunities for Ideguchi to depart in the coming weeks.
Exit options still available for Yosuke Ideguchi.
One of the main opportunities that is likely to arise for the former Leeds United man is a return to the J-League.
Reports from Sun Sport have indicated that a number of clubs in his homeland have been closely monitoring Ideguchi’s situation at Celtic, and now could be the ideal time for teams to make a move.
Although the window might be shut in Europe, in Japan, the transfer market runs from the 6th of January until March 31st. So, there is still plenty of time for J-League sides to make their move.
There are also other transfer markets that remain open past January, such as the MLS, as Celtic supporters are well aware, with Atlanta United currently pursuing a move for Giorgos Giakoumakis.
So, you would imagine there hasn’t been much panic from either Celtic or Ideguchi about moving the midfielder on in January.
Instead, the midfielder may be taking his time to assess his next move as he aims to get his career back on track after an unfortunate spell in Glasgow.
It is a shame things haven’t worked out for Ideguchi during his second spell in Europe. A lot of it is down to unlucky timing with injury, and I am sure all parties would have loved to see it work out.
It should be interesting to see what his next move is in the coming weeks and months. At this stage, a return to the J-League seems like the most likely step.
In other news, Watch: Josip Juranovic involved as remarkable Union Berlin miss goes viral; former Celtic star comes across well – 67 Hail Hail
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