Ange Postecoglou hasn’t denied reports that Celtic are close to a deal to sign Yuki Kobayashi from Vissel Kobe.
On Sunday night strong reports emerged from Japan that the former Yokohama Marinos boss was close to bringing another J-League star to Europe.
Celtic started the January 2022 transfer window with a flourish by announcing the arrivals of Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate on the final day of 2021.
Unlike previous regimes Celtic seem well organised and placed to get transfer business completed at the start of the window rather than hang around to see what might crop up in the last 48 hours of trading.
Responding to speculation about signing Kobayashi, the Daily Record reports Postecoglou saying:
We have gone early on the January market haven’t we? It’s just into November. We have a strategy in terms of making sure we are always looking to improve our squad and improve the way we do things.
Every window gives you that opportunity. We’ve had some plans in place for January for a while now. Hopefully over the next few weeks we will be able to conclude some of that.
Postecoglou could have given a generic answer that it is all speculation at this stage, telling he didn’t, there was no denial.
As a 22-year-old left sided central defender Kobayashi seems a natural fit in the Celtic squad, Moritz Jenz is currently playing in that position with the three other available central defenders all right-footed.
With two months to go before the transfer window officially opens it looks like Postecoglou has Celtic ahead of the curve with the four January 2022 signings, Matt O’Riley arrived later from MK Dons making an instant impact as the hoops kicked on to win the SPFL title.
