Japan boss in fresh Celtic snub as UK expedition skips Parkhead amid Hatate and Kyogo omissions

Hajime Moriyasu has seemingly missed out on visiting Celtic stars from the Land of the Rising Sun in his visit to the UK.

The Japan national team manager was in attendance at Brighton's FA Cup semi-final with Manchester United on Saturday as Kaoru Mitoma featured for the Seagulls. He has also been to see Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu and Hudderfield's Yuta Nakayama who are currently in rehabilitation, but there is no mention of Parkhead or Lennoxtown in Sponichi's report.

It was claimed by the Japanese outlet last month that Moriyasu would make his way to Europe for 'about a month.' Their latest states he has been in Europe since April 14th, in which time Celtic have played two Premiership matches, away at Kilmarnock and at home to Motherwell. Daizen Maeda has regularly been called up for Japan but Reo Hatate and Kyogo have been snubbed for recent squads, including the World Cup.

Moriyasu then prompted debate when he said the quality of the Scottish league was a factor in his decision making. It is not known whether or not he will circle back to Scotland for a look at Ange Postecoglou's Asian stars but Sponicihi state in their report: "He also visited Frankfurt-Borussia MG, Düsseldorf-Darmstadt, European CL game Bayern Munich-Manchester City, European EL game Sporting-Juventus, Grasshopper-Young Boys. E-Frankfurt's Daichi Kamata, Makoto Hasebe, Borussia MG's Ko Itakura, as well as Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu and Huddersfield's Yuta Nakayama, who are in rehabilitation.

"Based in Düsseldorf, he will also visit Real Sociedad, where Takefusa Kubo is currently enrolled." Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata will also be keen for the chance to impress their national team manager. Next up for Celtic is a pressure cooker Scottish Cup