Reo Hatate’s international development

Reo Hatate has been given an international pep talk by Hajime Moriyasu. 

The Celtic midfielder has yet to earn a full international cap but last summer he made four appearances at the Olympic Games, previously he had picked up nine caps at u-21 level and 12 for the Japanese u-23 side. 

At the age of 24 Hatate is adding European experience to his CV- making an instant impact since his January move to Celtic. 

Japan are in a battle with Australia and Saudi Arabia for the two automatic World Cup places with Moriyasu visiting Europe last week to catch up with his players and their coaches at club level. 

Speaking to The Sun the Japanese boss said: 

I met with 13 players in Europe and I wanted to visit the players who weren’t in the last squad. Those included Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate from Celtic. 

There is limited time before the next two matches and I wanted to speak to as many of the players who could be in the squad as possible. 

I spoke with Ange Postecoglou too and the Celtic CEO. I am very proud of the success of Celtic’s Japanese players because they have been delighted with them. 

Ange told me he understood the importance of the matches and he had been impressed with the way the Japanese team is improving and how we work with players. 

International travel can be a major drawback for players but Hatate would have had his international ambitions in mind when he decided to move to Celtic. 

Earlier this month Daizen Maeda played for Japan and Celtic on consecutive days which shows what is possible in certain situations.