Reo Hatate is in his final weeks as a Celt. He will go with our thanks.

According to Stephen McGowan, Reo Hatate has informed Celtic that he wants to leave the club this summer. If that reporting is accurate, then one of the most important players of the Ange Postecoglou era is ready to bring the curtain down on his time in Glasgow.

And let’s be honest. This is no surprise.

The rumours have been out there for a while. His future has been discussed for weeks. His place in the team became increasingly uncertain under Martin O’Neill, and even before this latest report, it was fairly obvious that Hatate’s Celtic career had reached the point where both sides were probably looking at the exit door.

Reports last month already had O’Neill addressing Hatate’s reduced involvement, after the midfielder had found himself on the fringes of the team. Once O’Neill got the job permanently, the writing looked very much on the wall.

That is not because O’Neill dislikes him. It is not because Hatate suddenly became a bad player. It is not because four and a half years of good football, big moments, trophies and contribution can be wiped away by a difficult spell at the end.

It is simply because football moves. Squads change. Managers change. Players reach the end of cycles. Hatate looks like one of those players now.

And the shame of it is that he should have left Celtic in better circumstances.

Because make no mistake, Reo Hatate has been a superb player for this club.

He arrived as part of that first great Japanese wave under Ange Postecoglou, and in many ways, he embodied the best of that era.

Technical courage. Speed of thought. Movement. Imagination. The willingness to try things other players would not even see, never mind attempt.

He was never the neat, safe midfielder. That was never the point of him.

Hatate was a risk player. A rhythm breaker.

A footballer who could look frustrating for ten minutes, then split a game open with one pass, one turn, one run, one moment of quality that reminded you exactly why managers kept trusting him. At his best, he was a joy to watch.

There were games where he looked like he was playing half a second ahead of everyone else. There were games where he took the ball under pressure, rolled away from trouble and turned defence into attack before the opposition had even realised what had happened.

He was a Celtic player in the proper sense of the term.

Not flawless. Not always consistent. But brave. Talented. Positive.

A player who wanted the ball and wanted responsibility.

Over four and a half years, he gave Celtic plenty. He has made 189 appearances and won five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups during his time at the club. That is a serious Celtic career. That is not a cameo. That is not a footnote. That is not someone passing through without leaving a mark.

He leaves, if he leaves, as a winner. He leaves as a player who helped define a period.

But the season just past became awkward. There is no point pretending otherwise. He was in and out. He was not always trusted. His minutes dipped. His form was patchy. His body language, at times, suggested a player who knew things were not quite right.

When O’Neill came back, the focus was survival first. He needed players he could rely on in exactly the way he wanted. He needed structure. He needed energy. He needed certainty. Hatate, for all his talent, did not seem to fit naturally into that final push.

The team won. The manager was vindicated. That does not make Hatate irrelevant. It simply makes his position more complicated.

There is always a danger when a popular player leaves that people start rewriting history to make the ending fit a narrative. Some will say he had gone stale. Some will say he was never as good as people thought. Some will focus only on the loose passes, the injuries, the games where he drifted. That would be nonsense.

Reo Hatate was an outstanding Celtic signing. In terms of value for money, he’s up there with anyone we’d had at the club in years.

He was exactly the kind of player Celtic should be proud of identifying. A player brought from outside the usual narrow market, trusted by a manager with a clear idea, then developed inside a winning team.

He gave us trophies. He gave us memories.

If anything, his story is another reminder of what good recruitment actually looks like when it is connected to a coherent football idea.

Ange knew what he wanted. Hatate fitted it.

Simple as that.

The trouble now is that Celtic no longer look like a club with that same clarity. We have talked endlessly about the rebuild. We have talked about the Champions League qualifier. We have talked about how the hard work starts now for O’Neill. Well, this is part of it.

Hatate leaving would not happen in isolation.

Arne Engels is being watched by major clubs. Other players may move. Some will be sold because their value has peaked. Some will leave because they want a new challenge. Some may go because the new manager does not see them as central to the next version of the team. That is football.

But it puts massive pressure on Celtic.

Because losing a player like Hatate is only acceptable if there is a proper plan to replace him. Not a late-August scramble. Not a spreadsheet punt. Not some project player the manager does not really want. Not another body who makes the squad bigger without making the team better.

A proper replacement. A player with quality. A player with courage. A player who can handle the ball, the pressure and the expectations. That is the standard Hatate helped set.

And that is why his departure, if confirmed, should be treated seriously. Not with panic, but with respect for what is being lost.

There is another side to this too. Hatate is 28 now. This may be the right moment for him personally. He has given Celtic four and a half years. He has won almost everything available domestically. He has played in Europe. He has experienced the pressure of Celtic Park and the intensity of this club.

If he wants a new challenge, he has earned the right to seek it.

I do not begrudge him that.

Most Celtic fans will not begrudge him either.

There may be disappointment. There may be frustration at how the final months have played out. There may be regret that his Celtic career appears to be ending not with a huge farewell moment, but with a quiet report that he has asked to move on.

That is the shame of it. He deserved a cleaner ending than this.

But football rarely gives players the perfect exit. More often, it drifts into awkwardness, uncertainty and half-open doors. One day a player feels central. Then he is on the bench. Then he is out of the team. Then the rumours start. Then the ending arrives before anyone has really had time to prepare for it.

That seems to be where we are with Reo Hatate.

So, let’s not do what football supporters too often do.

Let’s not sour the memory because the ending is imperfect. Let’s not reduce a superb Celtic career to a difficult final act. Let’s not pretend he was anything less than an important, talented and successful player for this club.

If he goes, he should go with thanks. He should go with respect. He should go with the good wishes of Celtic supporters.

Because Reo Hatate gave us plenty. He played his part in a trophy-laden period. He helped bring imagination and quality to the midfield. He was part of a team that restored excitement and belief under Ange, and he remained part of a squad that kept winning long after that first wave had passed.

That is worth remembering. That is worth honouring.

The rebuild now becomes bigger. O’Neill has another major decision to make. Celtic have another serious hole to fill. The board have another test of whether they can support a manager properly or whether they will once again leave the hard work until too late.

But whatever happens next, Hatate’s Celtic story should not end in bitterness.

It should end with a simple acknowledgement.

He was a very good player for this club. He gave us fine moments. He won trophies.

He wore the shirt well and if this is goodbye, then all we can really say is good luck, Reo.

You leave with our thanks.