Celtic are hoping to announce their trio of Japanese signings on January 1st, Football Scotland has reported today.
The outlet believes that New Years Day has become the ideal date for Celtic to officially confirm the transfers, ahead of the Rangers game on January 2nd.
However, it’s unlikely any of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda or Yosuke Ideguchi will be able to face the Ibrox side in that massive derby.
That’s not perfect, but also not unexpected. If the trio are indeed announced on January 1st, it will give Celtic time to include them in a January training camp, should that in fact go ahead next month.
At the very least, they could be in place at Lennoxtown as the club prepares for the second half of the season beyond the Scottish Premiership winter break. That’s really what is important here.
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If Celtic do manage to complete this business early doors, as intended, then it will be a real statement that the club are heavily backing Ange Postecoglou and what he wants from the January window.
“Hatate and Kyogo should form an amazing partnership” | Japanese football expert Sam Robson
Three first-team quality signings coming right into the squad off the back of a J-League campaign tells everyone that Postecoglou is putting a firm stamp on his Celtic project.
More than that, we get some crucial reinforcements into contention for the starting eleven as injuries rack up for the Bhoys.
If you’re looking to find out more about Reo Hatate, we have an excellent interview with Japanese football expert Sam Robson up on our YouTube channel right now. It’s not one to miss.
In other news, Owen Moffat and Joey Dawson may have just been called up to the Celtic first-team.