For the next two weeks, Hatate and Celtic need each other.

Last night on the podcast we were talking about possible Celtic team selections for Wednesday, and one thing I found interesting was how quickly some people dismissed the possibility that Reo Hatate might play.

That is why the news later on last night that he has rejected several offers to leave Celtic caught my attention. And here’s the important thing: he hasn’t rejected those offers because of some sudden overwhelming desire to stay at Parkhead and fight for his place.

He doesn’t fancy the offers. He doesn’t fancy the leagues. He doesn’t fancy the clubs.

That is a very different thing.

It will be tempting to say that Hatate is simply being more discerning about where he ends up than some of his former teammates, but let’s not kid ourselves. If a Premier League club came in for him tomorrow, I doubt he would be overly concerned about where it sat in the table. Like Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels and others who have looked beyond Celtic, Hatate appears to want one of Europe’s so-called Big Five leagues.

The problem for him is that right now I don’t think clubs at that level are exactly battering the door down. Hatate has not done enough in recent months to make a move like that inevitable. The idea that a major European club simply has to come for him is about as fantastical as predicting with certainty that he is going to be SPFL Player of the Year this season. But it is not too late.

He has a couple of weeks in which he can change the picture.

He can knuckle down. He can show Celtic what he can still do. More importantly from his own perspective, he can show the rest of Europe.

And if that is his motivation, I am absolutely fine with it.

Nothing motivates quite like self-interest. That is why the idea that Martin O’Neill might use Hatate in these coming European games is not stupid at all.

In fact, I think it makes perfect sense.

Martin has trusted Reo in important matches before. He clearly appreciates the player’s ability, even if Hatate’s long-term future now appears increasingly likely to lie elsewhere. And if Reo is handed the opportunity to put himself back onto the biggest stage in club football, he has every reason in the world to take it.

People are worried about his attitude. I understand that. People wonder whether Hatate is still willing to give everything for Celtic when he quite plainly has one eye on the exit door. My answer is very simple: he has to be.

Because if his ambition is to move from Scotland into one of Europe’s major leagues, then strolling through matches and looking disinterested is hardly going to make that happen. If Martin tells him that he is playing in a Champions League qualifier and that this is his opportunity to remind everyone what kind of footballer he can be, Hatate has to grasp it.

He cannot afford not to.

And last night, after the podcast was finished, I read Martin O’Neill saying that if Hatate remains beyond the window, that would actually please him. That interested me enormously. Because once I heard that I stopped thinking it was a possibility that Hatate plays a significant role in these games to thinking it was a certainty.

And for once, Celtic would be looking through the correct end of the telescope.

I still think allowing Arne Engels to leave when we did was disgraceful. I cannot justify it. I don’t think anybody inside Celtic can sensibly justify the timing either. We did what suited West Ham and the player. What about what suited us?

What about what was good for Celtic?

If the argument was that Celtic could not risk Engels being injured before completing a £22 million transfer, then we might as well put every valuable first-team player up for sale tomorrow and use the reserves until all the deals are done. That is where the logic leads, and it is ridiculous.

If the argument is that the player himself got spooked and did not want to take the chance, then I am going to assume he wrapped himself in bubble wrap, had his agent pack him into soft foam inside a reinforced cardboard box, hired a van with padded walls and drove south at twenty miles an hour to minimise the risk even further.

That is the ludicrous logic of that position as well.

At some point the question has to be asked: when do the interests of Celtic come first? When do we insist that players who are contractually bound to this club fulfil those obligations until the moment they no longer are?

Engels was still a Celtic player. We had a Champions League qualifier coming. We were already deprived of AJ. His departure suited him and suited West Ham, I get it. But somebody inside Celtic should have been asking whether it suited us.

That is the part of this whole episode I cannot get past.

Celtic gambled an amount of potential Champions League revenue greater than the fee we received for the player. Nobody is going to convince me that represents good strategic thinking. Sometimes this club operates with a lack of joined-up thinking which is genuinely breathtaking.

Hatate gives us an opportunity not to repeat the mistake. Whatever anybody thinks about his recent form or his desire to leave, Reo Hatate is an experienced footballer who we already know can operate at this level.

He has played Champions League football. He has played in major matches. He has performed against high-level opposition. He may not have been producing his best football lately, but we know the ability is there.

We know what he has in his locker.

And it would have been profoundly stupid for Celtic to allow him to leave immediately while the squad is already short in midfield for these games. Use him. That is what football squads are for. You do not have to be planning around Reo Hatate for the next three years to conclude that you need him for the next three weeks.

Those are completely different questions.

And if Martin O’Neill believes Hatate can help Celtic qualify for the Champions League, then that has to take priority over making his departure more convenient. I am glad Martin has said what he has. Common sense appears to have prevailed.

And no, I do not take this as evidence that Celtic are no longer going to sign another midfielder. We still need one. Martin knows it. Everybody watching this team knows it. And if Hatate eventually leaves, we probably need two.

But right now, while he is still here, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using him. In fact, I think he is the obvious option.

Even if you are the world’s biggest Luke McCowan fan, it is difficult to argue seriously that he has the Champions League experience Hatate possesses.

That isn’t an insult to McCowan. It is simply reality.

For a game of this importance, if the manager is choosing between an experienced international midfielder who has already played repeatedly at this level and somebody with very limited exposure to it, I can understand perfectly well why he might choose Hatate. Reo is the credible candidate.

He is the sensible candidate.

And if Martin selects him, supporters should understand exactly why. This is also where the criticism needs to be aimed correctly. It is not Martin O’Neill’s fault that Celtic have allowed the midfield situation to reach this point.

It is not his fault that Engels was sold before the tie. It is not his fault that another midfielder was not signed earlier. That responsibility belongs where it so often belongs: with the people above him who control recruitment and decide when deals are completed.

Martin can only use the squad he has. And right now, Reo Hatate is in it.

So use him, Martin, start him if we have to. If Hatate wants his major European move, let him earn it. Let him go onto that pitch on Wednesday and remind everyone why Celtic once valued him so highly. Let him dominate a Champions League qualifier.

Let him make the passes. Let him create chances. Let him produce the kind of performance which makes clubs elsewhere look at him again.

If that helps Celtic get where we need to go, everybody wins.

Reo gets his shop window. Martin gets an experienced midfielder when he needs one most. Celtic gets a better chance of reaching the Champions League.

Sometimes football interests align in convenient ways.

Hatate may no longer see his future at Celtic. Fine. But for the next couple of weeks, Celtic can still be extremely useful to Reo Hatate and Reo Hatate can be extremely useful to Celtic. That is more than enough reason to play him.

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