This Is The World Cup Of Emerging Talents, And Celtic Is Ready For That.

Japan’s win at the World Cup today was a bit of magic in a competition which needed it. This was not the Saudi’s beating Argentina, which was a remarkable result but one that was achieved by a nation whose horrific regime will profit from it. This was a pure fairytale, the sort that football excels at more than any other sport.

This is a Japanese team that we were all baffled could afford to overlook Kyogo and Hatate. But their victory over Germany proves that there is immense quality all the through that squad of theirs, and the league in general. It looks like genius to have tapped that resource in front of other clubs on this island. It is something we’ve done again today.

You wonder how Japanese football was so completely overlooked for this long. No matter what tosh you might read on some of the Ibrox forums, Kyogo, Hatate and Maeda have lit up this league and are vital players in this squad. They are a big part of why we’re where we are right now. These are top talents. It is madness that anyone would deny this.

That market is brimming with talent. Within what’s affordable for a club our size we may well have snapped up the best of it already. But the manager will be the best judge of that. If thinks there’s more to come then we’ll go there and get it.

The profile of Japanese football will be raised mightily by that performance. That raises our profile a little bit as well. We’ve got a good relationship with that country already, going back to when Nakamura was here, and our recent forays into the market over there can only help make it even better. On top of that, Naka was signed from Europe … these guys were playing in their domestic game not that long ago.

Some across town think that they, too, can exploit this marketplace.

If they were ready to hire Muskat they’d have a better chance of it.

But they are retreating, it seems, down the rabbit hole of “buying British.”

More fool them.

This is the World Cup of emerging nations and stunning new talents, and we are right there, ready to pounce.

The news, tonight, that we were monitoring Alastair Johnston, the young right back for Canada, proves it, and we should all welcome that.