The last round of international fixtures is upon us and after that we can get back to, what many people call, the real football.
With Celtic having thirteen players on international duty, there will still be more to cover regarding those from Brendan Rodgers‘ team who are lucky enough to be called up.
One of those players, however, is Reo Hatate. The Japanese midfielder has wowed the Celtic support with his recent performance against Kilmarnock and, it seems, he is alos impressing his national manager, Hajime Moriyasu, as well.
Speaking about the upcoming match against Tunisia, it seems that Hatate has played himself into the starting lineup for tomorrow’s friendly.
Moriyasu said [Gekisaka], “We want to prepare for tomorrow’s game with Reo Hatate as the starter.
“He showed us that he can take a wide position on the left side and move his teammates, that he can get between the lines and play, and that he can be involved in both attack and defence, even when he played in the middle of the game.
“He has shown that he can play on a daily basis for Celtic as an inside half, especially on the left, but I think he can make use of his strengths on the left in terms of getting between the lines, getting involved inside and getting the best out of people, as an extension of his routine.”
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It’s quite hard to believe that at 25-years-old, Hatate is in line to win his fifth cap for his country. It’s also hard to believe that he has only played three seasons of football professionally as he has been incredible since he burst onto the scene at Celtic.
It now seems that he has found his place within Moriyasu’s squad and it is not before time. Snubbed on numerous occasions by the Japan boss, pressure from Japan’s media, coupled with Hatate’s outstanding form has forced Moriyasu to find a place for the Celtic midfielder in his squad.
Now that he is there, he is now showing just how important he can be for Japan and the Celtic fans will be keeping a close eye on tomorrow’s match to see how their midfielder gets on. Kick-off as at 11:10am.
In other news, Watch as £3.5m Celtic player’s brilliant piece of skill helps national side dismantle Nations League opponent