Ange Postecoglou has revealed that he could return to Asia for more Celtic signings.
During his first season in charge of Celtic the former Yokohama Marinos boss brought in four players from the J-League with three of them making a significant impact as Postecoglou led Celtic to a double of Premiership title and League Cup.
Celtic enjoyed success in the past with Shunsuke Nakamura and Ki Sung-Yeung but failed to follow up by scouting Japan and South Korea.
After four years in charge of Yokohama Postecoglou has greater knowledge of the talent pool than any data base or scouting programme with Celtic likely to enjoy more benefits.
Picking up on an interview in Japan, The Sun reports Postecoglou saying:
Regarding my recruitment, there was no special strategy, I just wanted to sign a good player and I knew there were quality players in Japan.
In my four years as a coach in Japan, I’ve seen players with the right talent and attitude to achieve my ideal type of football,
In general, people only look at things that are close to them. Europe and South America are considered to be football powerhouses and Asia is often seen as a downgrade. It’s the same reason no one gave me a chance.
Asia is seen as the other side of the world and there is a historical tendency to only look at Europe and South America because they are seen as the strong football continents.
But if you look at the Bundesliga, there have been some fantastic Japanese footballers there. So I do think other nations don’t take as much notice as they perhaps should. As Asia and North America get more attention, it will become even more attractive as a market.
Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda can kick on in the new season having already demonstrated that they can make a big contribution in the Scottish game.
A brutal injury at Alloa has left Yosuke Ideguchi with some catching up to do but given a full month of pre-season training he should be ready to stake a claim for a midfield place.
