Over the past few years, Celtic have made a lot of mistakes in the transfer market, which is why the squad has been gradually weakened to where it is now, struggling to compete with even Scottish Premiership rivals. One can only hope that the club have learned from their mistakes and will choose their targets more carefully in the future.
One of the mistakes that Celtic have made is to make a number of project signings, in hopes that they will develop into first-team players at Parkhead or at least improve enough to be moved on for a transfer profit in the future. In a number of cases, neither of those two things has happened.
One such signing was that of Hayato Inamura. He was not one of the top players in the J-League when he was signed, for a transfer fee believed to be in the region of £250,000. The initial plan was believed to be to send him out on loan in the summer itself, but after a couple of impressive pre-season displays, he remained at Celtic Park.
Despite that, Inamura did not receive chances at Celtic. As a result, the past few months of his career might feel like a waste to many. Now, he is set to leave, and instead of trying his hand at another European club, the defender is headed back to Japan.
'Negotiations are in the final stages' - Celtic set to complete deal
As reported by Sponichi (via Yahoo Japan), FC Tokyo will acquire Inamura. The negotiations are in the final stages, and he will soon return to Japan to sign a formal contract.
Seeking more playing time, he has decided to return to Japan. It is not hard to understand why, having seen him get just one match since joining Celtic.
To be honest, perhaps signing him was not the right idea at all. And on top of that, he was not given chances to show what he was capable of.