I’m still waiting on Celtic doing serious transfer business because Champions League gives me the fear – Chris Sutton

It's no surprise to see Celtic continuing to shop in the Japanese market given the spectacular success of most of their signings from that neck of the woods.

There is no longer the risk attached to bringing in a player from the other side of the world because the likes of Kyogo, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have flourished in Scotland.

A few haven’t quite made the same impact, of course, but there’s not the same concerns about adapting to the game as some people might have had previously.

Hayato Inamura was the latest export and after it sounded like he was going to be farmed out on loan, Brendan Rodgers seemed pleasantly surprised by his display in Cork and might have more of a look.

Is he going to be the long-term back up for Kieran Tierney? I doubt it. He’s still very much one for the future as you wouldn't want to have to chuck him in for the final 20 minutes of a Champions League qualifier.

And as for the latest striker target, is Shin Yamada going to be the long-awaited replacement for Kyogo?

We’ll have to wait and see about that too.

At £1.5m Yamada isn’t going to break the bank and he might turn out to be another smash hit.

No one expected Maeda to become the superstar he now is when he arrived for a similar fee a few years ago.

I would hold fire on making comparisons between Yamada and Kyogo though.

Kyogo had a stronger track record in the J League for a start. Yamada was prolific in 2024, when he scored more than 20 goals for the season.

But he’s only managed a couple in 2025. Likewise in 2023, his goal return wasn’t too much to shout about.

On paper and in clips, he does looks a similar type of player to Kyogo. He likes to play not he shoulder and ghost into space, and his best work comes in the penalty