Celtic Completes Another Deal And Moves, With Speed, For The Next One.

Tomoki Iwata has been confirmed as Celtic’s new signing, and the reports from Japan suggest that he is not only excellent but capable of playing in various positions. This is a trait Ange seems to look for; our forwards should be able to play out wide and across the front and Reo Hatate was brought here in part for his own versatility.

Let’s think, for a moment, about how that has worked out.

Hatate can operate as a midfield player, a box-to-box midfielder, an attacking player and lately has been a revelation at right back. Now Iwata is being signed on the same basis; he can play in defensive or midfield roles and can play as a full back as well.

The pieces of the jigsaw are all falling into place … and the real shock is that the signings are nowhere near to being done yet. The word from Korea this morning is that we have submitted a formal bid for a striker … and it’s not Cho Gue-sung, it’s Oh Hyeon-gyu of Suwon Samsung Bluewings, and the word is that he’s been on the radar a while.

The early video of him is highly interesting. There’s no way we’ve bringing this guy in as a direct replacement for Giakoumakis, because he’s not the same type of player. For a start, he’s out wide as much as he plays inside the box. He looks like he scores a lot of his goals in there though, even if his composure outside it could be better; hell, he’s young and that will come.

But he is aggressive, quick and with exactly first touch. He is physically strong. He is good in the air, and we badly need a forward who ticks that box. He seems to be fast, and that combined his physicality … he will tear teams up here in Scotland.

Everything we’re doing right now is so much better than the way we used to do things. To have three signings already done before the window even opens is amazing. To be working on number four and God knows how many others … beyond our dreams.

This is Celtic as the enemy has dreaded us for years.

Determined, focussed, relentless and growing stronger with every day.