Today we have been gifted some insight into the career of Celtic target Reo Hatate from a previous coach of the versatile Japanese player. Takumi Horiike, a former defender who made 58 appearances for Japan during his career, was Hatate’s coach during his younger years at Juntendo University from 2016 onwards.
Hatate soon made an impression playing for his university, not only for his skills and work rate, but also for his confidence and sometimes fiery attitude.
Hatate’s father Koji was a professional baseball player who represented Japan and went on to be a coach so sport is definitely in the family blood. But for Reo Hatate, it was always going to be football and he has dreamed of playing abroad since he was at Shizuoka Gakuen, a footballing heavyweight at that age group in Japan that won the national high school football championship last year.
“His high school is known for good technical players who are comfortable playing with the ball at their feet,” says Horiike. “But as well as solid technique, the physical side of his game has always been strong, plus he has decent speed and good defensive qualities.” Horiike explained as reported in Daily Record.
His old coach explained that another of Hatate’s strengths is that he always put in the work on the training ground, he even remembers having to order him off the ground when he stayed behind practicing by himself for too long.
Versatility is his other great strength and Hatate has played as a striker, attacking midfielder, left-back, centre midfielder and on both wings at various stages for his university, his current team Kawasaki Frontale and for the Japan Olympic team.
With Ange Postecoglou having been in charge at Yokohama F Marino’s when Hatate finally made the step up to be a Kawasaki Frontale regular in 2020, he will know first hand what he can offer the Celtic squad.
During last season Postecoglou would have saw Hatate regularly perform for his team as he helped them win both the League title and the Emperor’s Cup. He has also helped them retain their league title again this year, and could even claim the double once more before the season ends.
Much has been made of Hatate coming in and challenging for the left back position which, before he got injured, it looked as if Greg Taylor had secured as his own. Since then we saw Boli Bolingoli, Adam Montgomery and to a lesser extent Liam Scales all getting a chance in that area before Ange decided that Croatian right back Josip Juranovic was the best choice to replace Taylor. The thing is I’m not fully confident that is Ange’s plan.
If you look at Kawasaki Frontale this season, Hatate has only played at left back on a handful of occasions. Mostly he has played at centre midfield. As mentioned earlier he is known for his incredible work rate, so does Ange maybe see him in the typical ‘number 8’ position?
Many Celtic fans have made it clear they think our midfield would function optimally with an attacking midfielder such as Rogic or Turnbull playing off the striker, McGregor in the ‘number 6’ role and a ‘box to box’ type player. Many feel the likes of Bitton and McCarthy slow our midfield play down too much and are unsuited to playing ‘angeball’.
Could Hatate be the player we need in that position? I’m not so sure as it really is hard to look at Hatate’s career up until this point and pin down what exactly is his best position. What I do know though is that if Ange is indeed interested in the Japanese prospect I can guarantee he has a plan for the player, and it may not be what many Celtic fans think.
Conall McGinty
