Was A Gentleman’s Agreement Responsible For Delivering Kyogo To Celtic?

The more you hear about Maeda the more you wonder it was he, and not Kyogo, who was brought to Glasgow first under Ange Postecoglou.

Don’t get me wrong; this has worked out for the best, and there is no doubt that is the case. But I wonder just the same.

Maeda so clearly respects the manager and the manager knows him.

The two worked together to dazzling effect. The reports all suggest that Ange turned him into the powerhouse striker the Japanese press has been raving about.

So why wasn’t Maeda first and not Kyogo? Could it be that the manager is a class act all the way and gave his former club a gentleman’s agreement that the deal would not be completed until their domestic season was? It seems likely.

From all we know about Ange, that does seem a possibility. And in the event that it was we’ve gotten doubly lucky because we’ve wound up with both players at the club. That might have happened anyway, but it’s worth pondering.

It’s worth pondering because it means Ange has a wide-angle lens.

It means he sees the whole board, not just one little section of it.

It means that he can improvise when he has to, and that bodes well for all of our future transfer business, once he has his own scouting teams working and once the options he gets presented with are properly vetted.

In the meantime, he’ll work off his personal knowledge and the crucial thing to remember is that his knowledge of Scotland is growing as well. Which is why there will be Scottish signings in our future, once Ange knows who will fit into the system.

We’ve gotten two exceptional forward line players here from Japan.

The test for Ange now will be fitting him into the system.

But I suspect that it will confirm him as an innovator. I am really looking forward to seeing what he makes of this squad, but Maeda in particular. The combination between him and Kyogo could be what tips this title our way.