Celtic manager makes admission about his advantage

Ange Postecoglou got his first taste of silverware in Scottish football earlier than most people would have expected as Celtic won the Scottish League Cup, riding on a brace from Kyogo Furuhashi in the final against Hibernian. And there is no doubt that the summer signing has been a massive success ever since arriving from Vissel Kobe.

It is safe to say that Kyogo was a Postecoglou signing. He spent several years managing in Japan and as a result, was clearly very familiar with the players there. And it is safe to say that he made a magnificent decision by bringing the Japanese star to Parkhead.

There is expected to be more to come though as Celtic have been linked with several Japanese players in recent weeks and it is believed that the deals could be completed early in January so that the new signings can take part in the club’s winter training camp.

Amidst all this, Postecoglou has admitted that he has an advantage when it comes to signing players from the Japanese league. As reported by the Daily Record, the Celtic manager said:

"“Obviously I have an advantage.“Maybe if I hadn’t managed on that side of the world, I might have had the same scepticism about whether their talent could transfer to European football and more particularly Scottish football.“But Japanese players in general have had a great deal of success on the continent.“They have had fantastic careers in the Bundesliga and places like Holland and Italy. They have good pedigree and one or two have had great careers in the Premier League.“When I took over I was definitely going to use that.”"

Celtic are expected to bring in more players from Japan in January

While Postecoglou has already delivered silverware as the manager of Celtic, it is clear that there is still need for a lot more depth in this squad.

We have seen one player after another pick up injuries in recent games and it is safe to say that this success is not sustainable if that continues.

A major reason behind the injuries is the fact that some of the players have had to play so much football this season, due to the lack of back up options. Kyogo himself returned from a hamstring injury to play in the final against Hibernian.

Thus, Celtic need to make more signings in January and it is looking like the new arrivals might be from the J1 League, with Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi linked.