We have many Celtic players, who have benefited from the arrival of Brendan Rodgers as manager over the summer. Liam Scales has gone from being near the bottom of the pecking order to a regular starter. Matt O’Riley’s game has seen clear improvement as well and he might be the best in Scottish football right now.
There are others though, who do not seem to be in Brendan Rodgers’ plans at the moment. One name that falls under that category is that of Yuki Kobayashi.
The Japanese centre-back was brought in earlier this year. While the Hoops have earned a lot of plaudits for the signings that they made during the time of Ange Postecoglou as the manager of the club, this was one that clearly has not worked out.
Kobayashi played a decent bit of football towards the end of last season but was not particularly impressive. Then Postecoglou left in the summer. In this campaign, he has yet to play a single minute of football and has made the bench only once. It might be time for a change.
Ange signing must leave Celtic in January
Celtic appear to have a set starting centre-back duo right now in Cameron Carter-Vickers and Scales. They also shelled out a combined €8.5 million in transfer fees to sign Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke in the summer transfer window.
Stephen Welsh signed a long-term deal with the club not too long ago as well. And Nat Phillips is on loan from Liverpool.
As a result, it is hard to see Kobayashi getting any playing time in the near future. Thus, the best thing for him might be to leave in January, either on loan or on a permanent basis. He is 23 years of age and needs to be playing regular football. Unfortunately, he won’t be getting that at Parkhead anytime soon.