One year into a four year Celtic contract Hayato Inamura appears to be returning to the J-League.
Signed as a left-sided central defender from Albirex Nigata it was quickly obvious that the 23-year-old didn’t have the physique for that position in Scottish football.
At left-back Inamura looked tidy in two pre-season friendlies but made only one competitive appearance, in a 3-0 home win over Livingston.
When Marcelo Saracchi was signed on loan to provide competition to Kieran Tierney it was obvious that Inamura’s Celtic career was over.
A loan deal in Europe was possible but failed to come good.
On February 1 it was announced that Inamura was joining FC Tokyo on loan, now it seems that a permanent move is about to be announced.
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— Kazu Kakiuchi (@kazubaggio) June 6, 2026
From the moment that he arrived at Celtic it was hard to see any way that Inamura was going to develop into a regular first team player.
Japan does create skillful, technical players but in Scotland defenders need to be physical.
Auston Trusty has been a regular for Celtic for two seasons but can find it difficult going head-to-head with someone like Simon Murray.
Unless a new signing is ready to go straight into the Starting XI or at least be a regular substitute it is almost impossible to play your way into the Celtic side.
THE CELTIC TURNOVER FACING O’NEILL
In the summer of 2023 Odin Thiago-Holm, Marco Tilio and Kwon Hyeok-gyu had similar experiences.
Similarly Martin O’Neill thought little of the January 2026 signings. They were quickly ditched with Joel Mvuka and Junior Adamu barely getting any game time.
With O’Neill now confirmed as permanent manager fans will be looking for a step up in transfer dealings.
On top of the on loan players returning there could be upto 10 players leaving this summer. Kasper Schmeichel has retired with Reo Hatate putting in a transfer request.
Fans will be hoping to hear from O’Neill in the coming week as he outlines his squad plans, a timescale for the work to be done and setting out ambitions for the 26/27 season.
Lech Poznan have apparently signed Luis Palma with Stephen Welsh being released. Those deals are likely to be confirmed on July 1.
CLICK HERE for Inamura Transfermarkt profile
In the fleeting moments that we saw of him, Inamura looked very handy on the ball with good passing technique and precision but would definitely have been deemed to be too defensively naive and too physically weak for the demands of the Scottish Premiership. He goes with my best wishes and I hope he can forge a successful career for himself back in his homeland.
Keeping my fingers crossed that we will see an exciting and dynamic re-build along the lines of Ange’s first season in charge but going by recent experience I won’t be holding my breath.