Chris Sutton makes bold claim about Celtic superstar

Celtic are flying high at the moment after winning against Aberdeen, their closest domestic competitors this season, and RB Leipzig. Brendan Rodgers deserves immense credit, as do the players. It is Nicolas Kuhn who has gotten most of the headlines and understandably so, as the German winger has been world-class. There is another player who was just as good in those two games though.

We are talking about none other than Reo Hatate. The Japanese midfielder looks to be back to his best now and is performing at an incredibly high level.

Hatate has always been recognised as one of the best midfielders Celtic have. After all, he did not look out place against Real Madrid a couple of years back. But since the arrival of Rodgers as manager, his form has been inconsistent and his injury record has not been great either.

Even earlier this season, there were many who wanted Hatate to be left out of the starting XI and that happened against Borussia Dortmund. We all know how things turned out at Signal Iduna Park and Rodgers has not repeated the mistake since then. So, Celtic fans must be delighted to see the Japanese midfielder back at his best.

Chris Sutton makes bold claim about Celtic superstar

Sutton highlighted some of the issues Hatate faced in the not-too-distant past. The former Celtic striker wrote in his column in the Daily Record:

"No offence to Turnbull who is a fine player in his own right, but he’s not at Hatate levels and the manager wouldn’t have been leaving him out just for the sake of it.

Something wasn’t right, that seemed clear. And then when he did manage to get into the side and show his qualities, he kept breaking down. Instead of running Champions League games last season, he missed out too often due to injury.

It was left to Matt O’Riley to come up trumps alongside McGregor and you can’t say the Dane didn’t respond. He was superb and Paulo Bernardo did enough to earn himself a return ticket from Benfica. In the end, Hatate, while still making a contribution or two showing glimpses of class, mustered less than 20 starts.

From shining light and potential superstar with the world at his feet, the Asian had stalled and was fighting to recapture his best."

But now, Sutton believes that Hatate is back to his best:

"Not only did he grow even stronger in that last hour, he added his first-ever Champions League goal to seal the deal.

Make no mistake, that 90-minute performance of that quality against that standard of opponent is a real statement from the player of where’s at once again. Hatate is back to that thrilling best with outrageous talent and an engine to keep it all running.

At 26, he's five years older than Engels, four more than Bernardo and looks to be really grasping that senior-figure responsibility. It was where I thought he’d be last season. No wonder Hatate and the boss were smiling together afterwards."

Hatate is a brilliant player for sure. A couple of summers back, it had seemed that he would be the next Celtic player to make the jump to the Premier League. That has not happened, due to a combination of lack of form and injury problems. But fortunately, he seems to be back to his very best once again, and he is showing it not only domestically but at the Champions League level as well.