Celtic will shift Yuki Kobayashi and Yosuke Ideguchi in January with the pair expected to return to the J-League. Brendan Rodgers is targeting a rebuild of his bloated squad as he looks for quality over quantity and the two are deemed surplus to requirements.
According to The Sun, both players will be made available in the January window.
Ideguchi, 27, joined in Ange’s first season as part of the trio of January signings. Whilst Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda hit the ground running, the defensive midfielder saw his game time limited, making just six appearances – owing largely to competition and an injury picked up against Alloa Athletic. Last January a move to Avispa Fukuoka transpired and he returned to Japan on loan. In that time, he has made 32 appearances and was nominated for Player of the Year.
Kobayashi, meanwhile, joined a season later in what would be Ange’s final transfer window as manager. Signed from Vissel Kobe, Kobayashi was highly rated and the central defender looked assured on his debut. However, he was never going to regularly get in ahead of Starfelt/CCV and found his game time limited. A couple shaky displays at Tynecastle and Ibrox saw Tomoki Iwata preferred at centre back ahead of him, which was fairly telling. Injury curtailed his chances in pre-season and you’d expect that he would be relishing the chance to play games.
Celtic need to replicate the swift action taken in Ange’s first window and get the players in the door early, allowing them to work with the manager, coaches and their teammates ahead of a battle for the league title.
Rodgers is not seem capable of getting the best out of players, unlike Ange.
He also cannot pick the best players for a particular scenario.
I wonder if he can even pick his nose.