Celtic player admits he feared his career would be over

Celtic have done a terrific job when it comes to their scouting and recruitment in recent times. That has been one of the biggest reasons why they have been so successful under the management of Ange Postecoglou over the past 20 months or so. They have spread their net wider than they have ever done before, and reaped the benefits of it.

Of course, when a club signs so many players in such a short span of time, it is only natural that not every move is going to work out. That turned out to be the case with Yosuke Ideguchi.

Ideguchi was brought in from Gamba Osaka, in the same January transfer window as Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate. And while his two Japanese teammates went on to establish themselves as key players in Postecoglou’s team, the former Leeds United player found things much more difficult.

Ideguchi left on a year-long loan to Avispa Fukuoka earlier this year. And the Japanese midfielder has admitted that he had started to fear for his career.

Celtic player admits he feared his career would be over

As reported by Football Scotland, Ideguchi said in an extensive interview with Sportiva:

"“To tell you the truth, I was scared. At this rate, my soccer career will end.”"

Talking about the circumstances surrounding his Parkhead exit, Ideguchi went on to add:

"“To be honest, I didn’t think that playing soccer without knowing where I was going or what I was appealing to was doing me a favor.“For that reason, from a relatively early stage after the start of the new season, I told the club that I would like to leave the team if it was out of the manager’s plan, and that I wanted to join a team that had even the slightest chance of getting involved in the game.”"

It is safe to say that signing Ideguchi was always seen as a risky move. And on the part of Celtic, it is quite clear that the risk did not pay off. At the moment, it is hard to see a way back for him at Parkhead even though he might only be out on loan.

On the other hand, things have not started on the right foot for him back in Japan either, as Ideguchi has suffered a serious has suffered a serious injury. He is expected to be out for three months or so.