What Celtic should do now as Hatate rejects new contract offer

Reo Hatate has rejected the chance to sign a new contract at Celtic, according to a report this morning in Scottish Sun. And if that is indeed the case, we at least know where we stand and can determine at what stage we sell the Japanese midfielder who is under contract until 2026.

There should be absolutely no need to lose Hatate this season, and there is not really any risk of the player downing tools as he will be looking to impress with a view to catching the eye of whatever club ends up buying him.

Celtic extended the contract of Kyogo and Daizen Maeda in the summer and more recently made similar offers to Hatate and Liel Abada. There is no update on whether Abada will sign or reject the new deal that is now on the table but if he does we can place him in the same category as Hatate and act accordingly.

Hatate has yet to establish himself as a first pick in Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic side and is starting to get a reputation for being somewhat injury prone. That’s a red flag to many clubs.

Of course Hatate’s agent will know more about any interest in him than the rest of us, but the valuation that Celtic will have will need to be met before a club like Brighton or Tottenham will tempt Celtic if they are looking at moving for the player in the remaining days of this transfer window, or more likely after Christmas.

Hatate fancies another shot at the Champions League with Celtic and you can understand why. He’s not going to be guaranteed that at either of those two clubs and many more that might end up coming in for him.  For now, Celtic should get him fit and challenge him to prove he’s worthy of the move that he aspires to. And we’ll leave chanting his name to others.

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Brendan Rodgers backs new-found Celtic transfer strategy; now fans want to see something different

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has been speaking about the club’s recently-found recruitment strategy.

Over the past five transfer windows Celtic have signed players from all over the world, with many arriving from under-appreciated talent hot spots.

The club have signed five different players from Japan since 2021, three from South Korea in 2023 alone, plus other talent from the likes of Russia, Argentina, Australia and Israel.

In fact, the only inhabited continent we’re yet to recruit a player from is Africa. It’s a truly global operation that is in stark contrast to Rodgers‘ first spell at the club.

During his initial stint as manager between 2016 and 2019, the club recruited 28 players who could be considered first-team signings. (TransferMarkt)

12 of those came from English clubs, five were from Scotland while eight arrived from other European countries.

Only Emilio Izaguirre (Saudi Arabia), Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez (both USA) were signed from outside Europe. None of those really felt like the right move at the time.

Rodgers has already commented on several occasions about how the club’s transfer processes have evolved in the four years since his departure. Amid growing fan pressure regarding big transfer business, he’s backed the plan again.

“I think that’s why you see the strategy of Mark [Lawwell] and the guys, going to markets that were maybe untouched and the deals you can get in,” he told The Herald.

“You look at the Premier League or even the Championship. It’s a very expensive market for players and wages.

“That is a real challenge for a club like ourselves. Coming back here, that was something I had to understand better, and why I took that time to decide.

“The club has to be sustainable while being successful. But it’s understanding where it is at in terms of what you can and can’t do.

“I’ll always work with the players the club provide me and try to develop them to be the best they possibly can. That hopefully makes the club successful and allows them to move on, make money and we go again.”

Rodgers has explained very clearly that it is the recruitment team’s job to provide him with players, and his job to bring them on to be first-team stars.

One of his main managerial strengths is his ability to develop players. We saw that in his first spell at the club with the likes of Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney. Even older players like Scott Brown benefitted from his involvement.

Conversely, recruitment is arguably not one of his strengths so we may have a good setup with the club taking charge of that.

However, it’s difficult to escape the feeling that this team needs a Rodgers signing, or at least one that can be perceived as such. That’s certainly the way a lot of supporters feel, as pressure grows and the window ticks down.

When Scott Sinclair entered the room in 2016 it felt like a major backing of the manager and arguably inspired Celtic in those daunting early weeks after the Lincoln Red Imps disaster.

A similar statement of intent would have supporters feeling very positive again. Be it Daniel Podence or one of Rodgers’ former players, it would have everyone buzzing again.

Who knows if this is a route Celtic will go down. It’s all well and good signing talented youngsters, but this window was about first-team ready stars too. That was the case before Jota left the club and is even more of a pressing issue now.

For what it’s worth, I’m still backing the club to bring in at least one or two of those ready-made talents before the window closes. Chances are you’ll know what one of those feel like if and when they come aboard.