Celtic have built up quite the reputation for signing players from the J League in recent times. Ange Postecoglou was the manager of Yokohama F. Marinos before arriving at Parkhead and the Australian seems to have put that knowledge to great use. Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have proven to be success stories for the Hoops. The likes of Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata are showing great promise as well.
Recently, Celtic have been linked with another Japanese player. It is Ryotaro Ito, who currently plays for J1 League club Albirex Niigata.
It remains to be seen what the future holds. One would expect Celtic to strengthen the squad further in the summer and it would be no surprise if they sign more players from the J1 League. But it looks like rumours linking them to any specific players at the moment might be a bit premature.
As reported by 67 Hail Hail, Postecoglou said while speaking on Celtic’s official YouTube channel:
"“They’ve gone early with their stabs in the dark, haven’t they? Look, we’re doing our work but people trying to identify who we’re trying to earmark for next year – it’s fair to say if they’re taking punts now they are well, well, well off the mark. Well off the mark. Without talking about specific players.”"
Celtic boss gives clear response to Ito rumours
There is no doubt that Ito is a good player and he could be a good addition to this Celtic team. But for the moment, it does not look like the club have finalised their targets for the summer window.
It remains to be seen who they end up signing, because they will have to very smart with their additions. This is a strong squad and only careful planning can make it stronger, without disrupting the balance that is already there.
Celtic are in a great position right now. They have a Premiership and League Cup double in the bag, and will go for a treble next month, when they take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup final. That does not mean that there is no room for improvement. They can certainly do better in Europe. And their recent 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Rangers will give them some food for thought as well.