Celtic added quite a few players to their already strong squad in the summer transfer window. We have seen Sead Haksabanovic starting to make his mark in recent weeks while Moritz Jenz, Aaron Mooy and Alexandro Bernabei have their place in Ange Postecoglou’s plans as well. Yet, the manager has hinted that further additions could be made in January.
Last year, we saw the likes of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi, Johnny Kenny and Matt O’Riley arrive in January. And this time around, it looks like Celtic could look to do their business early once again.
Rumours have already broken out that the club have a deal in place to sign Vissel Kobe centre-back Yuki Kobayashi at the start of next year.
Dean Jones has claimed that the move should go ahead and has also told Celtic fans to be excited about the Japanese defender. As reported by GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said about the Kobayashi deal:
"“I think this one should go ahead, and Celtic fans should be excited by it.“He’ll add a real steel to the squad and the team, and he can also dictate games, which is something that would be really interesting to see.”"
Celtic fans told to be excited about arrival of youngster in January
Kobayashi is a left-footed, 22-year-old centre-back, who is a regular in the Vissel Kobe side. He could be an excellent fit in Postecoglou’s system of football as well.
Kobayashi has a great eye for a pass and brilliant range as well, he is very comfortable bringing the ball out from the back, dominant aerially, not afraid to make a tackle and has good defensive positioning too.
Despite their underwhelming season, Vissel Kobe were pretty solid defensively and one of the biggest reasons behind that was the presence of Kobayashi at the back. There is no doubt about the potential of the Japanese defender. But if he does make the move to Glasgow, it would be very interesting to see if he can make the transition to the much more physical Scottish game.