Vissel Kobe seem to be resigned to losing Yuki Kobayashi to Celtic when the January transfer window opens.
The left sided central defender has been heavily linked with a move to Scotland, becoming the fifth J-league player to follow Ange Postecoglou to Scotland.
A year ago reports were emerging about moves for Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi with that trio announced as signings on December 31.
Postecoglou has brought a whole new level of professionalism to Celtic’s transfer dealings with work well in advance to bring in players for clearly identified areas in the team.
Picking up on news from Japan, Football Scotland reports:
Reports in Japan claim that an executive on the board at Vissel Kobe has admitted it will be hard to stop the Hoops’ move for Kobayashi from being completed despite the club’s efforts to sign him up to a new contract ahead of the start of the new Japanese top flight season.
The unnamed official, when asked about Kobayashi’s potential move to Celtic, told Next: “It’s hard to keep him now.”
Moritz Jenz is the only left sided central defender currently at Celtic with that area of the team badly hit by injuries in the early months of this season.
Matt O’Riley also arrived at the club in January 2022 with Kobayashi unlikely to be the only addition of the next transfer window.