Celtic have announced the transfer of Yosuke Ideguchi to Vissel Kobe, the club that supplied the hoops with Kyogo Furuhashi and Yuki Kobayashi.
Two years ago the midfielder joined Celtic alongside Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda but a nasty injury on his debut away to Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Cup effectively grounded his Celtic career before it had started. Matt O’Riley made his debut in the next fixture, away to Hearts.
Billed as a holding midfielder with a previous stint in Europe at Leeds United, Ideguchi found that position barely existed at Celtic where they enjoy 70% possession in many domestic matches. James McCarthy and Oliver Abildgaard suffered similar fates.
It appears that Celtic have received a 1m euros fee for the midfielder, the same fee that they paid to Gamba Osaka two years ago. With exchange rate fluctuations there may be a small profit or loss.
Ideguchi made five substitute appearances in his ‘debut’ season and spent the 2023 J-League season on loan at Avispa Fukuoka where he was short listed for the Player of the Year Award.
Further departures are expected from Celtic but it has been a slow start, incoming and outgoing, start to the January window.
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