So what did Reo Hatate say today to justify all these “bad news for Celtic” headlines? Nothing that he hasn’t said before. He would like to play in England at some point; which top player wouldn’t these days, except for those who care only about the money and would make more in Saudi Arabia?
Player based in Scotland fancies England at some point can certainly generate headlines with our lazy media, but it’s actually not news.
There is nothing in this story. There is no bid from England for him, and thus nothing for the club to be thinking about far less to decide on.
There is rumoured interest in other players from various European leagues but it’s not clear that any of those moves would be to a bigger, or better, club.
The same applies to the one club who are said to be interested in Hatate – which is Brighton. That story has faded into nothing but background noise.
It’s not clear that there was ever anything in it in the first place, and in the absence of a club actually wanting him I wonder what exactly the issue is. It’s one of those whimsical speculative ambitions that we can all set for ourselves; we never get near most of them.
Some of the focus seems to be on the nature of his comments. “There are things I can’t do anything about, but when I lose my ambition, I’m finished as a player. That’s a natural thing for a player,” he said and some are trying to spin that as a guy not being allowed to pursue his dream.
Unless there is a bid there’s nothing to talk about and that’s what he’s saying there. He also knows, because he’s a realist about this, that Celtic would need to find any bid acceptable.
There is nothing wrong with a player wanting a move to England eventually.
I’m certainly not going to consider it some kind of mortal sin, nor will I conclude that without him our entire club will simply collapse into the abyss. But there’s nothing current here, nothing happening which merits the kind of hysteria that these comments of his have generated.
Reo Hatate is a good Celtic player. He is probably our best midfielder other than McGregor. It would be a blow to lose him, but not something from which we would not recover.
He wouldn’t be permitted to leave for under £20 million and that’s the reality of it; we’re in a strong position come what may. I think he may leave next summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal … that’s another reality but one Celtic will have plenty of time to prepare for.
The media was always going to be looking for an anti-Celtic story today, and nothing was going to stop them writing one if the chance came along. I personally think this one is pretty weak because he hasn’t said anything we haven’t heard from him and his agent already. The truth is, we hold all the cards and right now there’s not even anything to discuss.
All in all, it’s a pretty pathetic effort from our hacks.