Celtic face going into two key SPFL clashes in the new year without Tom Rogic and Kyogo Furuhashi.
The extended Asian World Cup qualifying pathway sees matches being played on January 27 and February 1 while the European calendar breaks until March with domestic and UEFA fixtures taking priority during the first two months of the year.
International fixtures are known well in advance with FIFA World Cup qualifiers not giving clubs any chance of with-holding players required by their nation
After his match-winning intervention against Australia on Tuesday Kyogo will be pushing for a starting place for his national side while Rogic now has 51 caps from an international career stretching over a decade.
On January 27 Japan host China in a qualifier followed by a visit from Saudi Arabia on February 1. On the same dates Australia are at home to Vietnam then away to Oman.
Following the winter break Celtic face Hearts at Tynecasrle on January 26 then host Dundee United three days later.
There is an awful lot of football to be played before the end of January but developing the squad strength to cover for the absence of two regulars will be somewhere in Ange Postecoglou’s thinking and planning.
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Quite simply the club tells both players they will not be allowed to leave. Club in all cases comes before country.