Tottenham agreeing ‘record fee’ for defender has made things interesting for Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic

Add as preferred source on Google

The transfer noise is starting to heat up for the likes of Celtic and Tottenham.

As many Celtic supporters would have seen, Tottenham sacked Ange Postecoglou after winning the Europa League, and they have appointed Thomas Frank as their new coach.

When Postecoglou was in Glasgow, he brought in some interesting players for the football club, and from niche markets that have continued to do well under Brendan Rodgers.

That’s the J-League market in Japan, and what’s interesting here is that, now Postecoglou is out of the door, the London club are pushing for a big deal in that market.

And it might just have a bearing on what Celtic are planning to do.

• READ MORE: Red Star Belgrade lay out plan for Celtic target Veljko Milosavljevic in a bid to fight off interest from European clubs

Tottenham Hotspur agree a ‘record fee’ for Kawasaki Frontale defender Kota Takai

For English Premier League clubs, ‘£5 million’ isn’t a lot of money because of the waters they swim in, but it is for teams in Japan and someone like Celtic.

Saying that, Fabrizio Romano posted that Spurs have agreed a ‘£5 million’ deal with Kawasaki Frontale for their centre-back, Kota Takai.

If this transfer goes through, then it will be a ‘record fee ever received for a Japanese player from the J League’.

‘Tottenham agree £5m deal with Kawasaki Frontale to sign 2004-born Japan international centre-back Kota Takai,’ wrote Romano.

‘Record fee ever received for a Japanese player from the J League, as @sponichisoccer reports.’

‘Kawasaki F’s Kota Takai to transfer to England’s Tottenham for a record-breaking ¥1 billion, the highest amount for a Japanese player – Club agreement already reached in principle,’ wrote Sponichi Annex Soccer.

Celtic’s transfer pursuit of Hayato Inamura

You now wonder what this does for Celtic’s pursuit of Hayato Inamura, who plays for Albirex Niigata, and in the same position as Takai.

Hopefully, from Celtic’s perspective, it doesn’t set the bar for the type of transfer fee the J-League club would want for their player, and inflate it in any way, because if that happens, then it wouldn’t help matters.

Either way, the 2025 summer transfer window is just starting to heat up, and expect the temperature to rise as the weeks go on.

One thing seems likely, and that’s Celtic enhancing their centre-back spot, because it caused Rodgers issues during the second half of the season.