Work permit granted as Tomoki Iwaya closes in on Celtic move

According to a report from Yahoo Japan Celtic have obtained a work permit to complete the signing of Tomoki Iwaya from Yokohama F Marinos.

With a loan agreed between the clubs and a $1m US transfer fee in place all that is required is for the player to complete his medical to join the Scottish champions.

Celtic have already completed all of the paperwork to bring in Yuki Kobayashi and Alistair Johnstone, it looks like the Iwaya announcement will be completed at some stage this week.

Yahoo Japan reports:

Former Japan representative DF Tomoki Iwata [25], who won the Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in J1 this season, will transfer to Celtic in the Scottish Premier League in January next year. It is a rental transfer with the option of a complete transfer, and the transfer fee is estimated at 1 million dollars (about 133 million yen). According to officials, he has already obtained a UK work permit and will be officially signed after a medical check on site.

Iwata, who grew up in the lower organization of Oita, has his talent blossomed at once in Yokohama, where he joined in 2001. In addition to his main position as a defensive midfielder, he has also been appointed as a full-back and center-back, demonstrating his versatility. This season, he contributed greatly to the team’s fifth league title in three years, and was selected as the MVP, the first J3 graduate and the fourth defender. He has grown into a player who represents the J League both in name and reality.

Celtic’s coach Postecoglou, who led Yokohama to League V in 2019, also highly praises Iwata’s ability. He said he desperately wanted it. The team consists of 4 players, Japanese representative FW Maeda who participated in the World Cup Qatar tournament, FW Furuhashi, MF Hatate, and MF Ideguchi. From next January, Kobe DF Kobayashi and Iwata will also join, and the possibility of forming a Japanese sextet (a group of six) has surfaced.

? Tomoki Iwata Born on April 7, 1997 (Heisei 9), 25 years old from Oita prefecture. He was promoted to the top team in 2016 from the Oita junior organization and contributed to the promotion from J3 to J2 and J1. He moved to Yokohama in 2001 and contributed to the league championship this season as MVP and best eleven. His Japanese national team was selected for the first time at the South American Championship in June 2019, and made his debut against Uruguay on the 21st. He also competed in the E-1 Championship this summer. Scored 0 goals in 4 international A matches. 1 meter 78, 77 km. His dominant foot is right.

??DF?????????????????
????????????????????????????100?????1?3300??????????#Yahoo????https://t.co/FdySLpV1h0

— ??????? (@Albelt_Shimano) December 25, 2022