Our transfer policy has seen us cast our net far and wide in search of new talent, nowhere more so than the far east, well Japan and South Korea to be exact.
We currently have six Japanese players on the books and two South Koreans with one pending. The overwhelming majority of those players have been a success, minus Yousuke Ideguchi while question marks remain over Yuki Kobayashi.
Most are internationals for their respective countries. Daizan Maeda, Kyogo and Reo Hatate will certainly be part of the Japanese national manager Hajime Moriyasu plans going forward despite the latter two’s previous exclusions, while OH is a player who is impressing South Korean boss Jurgen Klinsmann.
Fellow South Korean and recent Celtic signing Hyun-Jun Yang is highly regarded in South Korea and if he impresses at Celtic he too could find himself in the national squad. The same applies to incoming midfielder Kwon Hyeok-Kyu.
That’s a big percentage of important members of the squad that could be absent at a vital part of the season as the Asian cup kicks off in the midst of the winter break and runs through until the second week of February. When you consider Japan and South Korea usually make it to the latter stages of the competition, it presents a bit of a dilemma, or does it?
The rules in place say a team can postpone any matches if a number of players are away on international duty, and Celtic will most likely meet that criteria.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
