Celtic have signed a number of players from the J1 League in recent times. Since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou as manager, they have brought in Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi and Yuki Kobayashi. But the club do not seem to have any plans of stopping any time soon and are being linked with a move for another Japanese star.
Defensive midfield has been a position of worry for Celtic for a while as they have failed to find the right solution there. The likes Oliver Abildgaard and Yosuke Ideguchi have failed to make their mark. On the other hand, Nir Bitton left the club at the end of last season.
It will be interesting to see if the club are able to make the right signing there in the future, and they seem to have their eyes set on one of the players that Postecoglou signed during his time as the manager of Yokohama F. Marinos.
As reported by The Mail+, Celtic have placed Japanese midfielder, Tomoki Iwata, on a list of potential signings for the January transfer window.
Celtic linked with move for Yokohama F. Marinos defensive midfielder
It is safe to say that Celtic could do with another defensive midfielder, especially considering the fact that the summer move for Abildgaard seems to have proven to be a mistake.
Iwata is someone that Postecoglou will know well from their time together at Yokohama F. Marinos and he is coming off of a great season.
Yokohama F. Marinos ended up winning the J1 League in 2022 and Iwata was a regular starter for the club, which goes on to show his contribution to the win. Could it be time for a move to Europe now?
It remains to be seen if the club end up making a move for Iwata in January or not, but he certainly looks like the kind of player that Celtic would have their eyes on to fill the void in defensive midfield.