It has been an interesting start to Brendan Rodgers’ second stint as the manager of Celtic. The club have won their opening two games in the league and had a positive pre-season campaign as well. The performances have left quite a bit to be desired though. They seem to be missing a spark at the moment, which made them so good during the run of Ange Postecoglou in the Parkhead hot seat.
Perhaps it is natural for the players to take some time to adjust to Rodgers’ style of play. But improvement is needed if they are to defend all three domestic titles and make an impact in the Champions League this season.
All players seem to have started from square one under the management of Rodgers. While this has been a boost to many, some appear to have slipped down the pecking order as well.
One of them seems to be Reo Hatate. The Japanese midfielder is undoubtedly one of the best players that Celtic have at this point in time. But he started neither of the two matches till now and picked up an injury after coming on against Aberdeen.
Kris Boyd urges Celtic to let key player go if no deal is agreed
Many had questioned Hatate’s body language in pre-season. And Boyd appears to have a take on the matter.
He wrote in his column in The Scottish Sun:
"Now there’s talk of Celtic opening negotiations with Hatate over a new contract. Chat that Rodgers is eager to get him on a long-term deal.It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out because all the signs so far are that Hatate was heading towards the exit door.Then again, Rodgers does see himself as a people person, so you could see him trying to facilitate an offer if he believes Hatate is all-in at Celtic.Any issue can’t have been down to his workrate, by the way, because Hatate does more running in his post-match warm-down than most players do during games.But everyone can see his body language has changed from last season and if that’s causing friction behind the scenes, Celtic would be better off getting rid.The calf injury he picked up at Aberdeen maybe rules out a move in this window anyway.But if he doesn’t sign a new contract soon, I would expect him to be sold in January."
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Hatate. At the moment, he is not expected to be back in action for three to four weeks due to the injury he suffered against Aberdeen. Let’s see if he signs a new deal or not.
Hatate is without a doubt one of the best players in the Premiership when on top of his game. Hopefully, he will play his way back into form after returning from his injury.