Reo Hatate came off the bench at half-time at Pittodrie on Sunday and looked mightily impressive until he went down injured after playing for around 20 minutes. The Japanese midfielder had been benched for the opening two matches of the new season, with David Turnbull preferred by Brendan Rodgers for his starting eleven against both Ross County and Aberdeen.
Hatate looked like a man out to prove a point but the calf injury he picked up at the weekend looks like keeping him out for around four weeks, so that of course means he will miss the first Glasgow Derby of the season at Ibrox at the beginning of September.
Now it has been reported that following a scan, Celtic’s Japan international midfielder has reportedly suffered a grade two calf tear with the Scottish Daily Mail stating that this is expected to sideline the player for around four weeks.
The only positive is that the transfer window will be closed before Hatate plays again, and maybe the fact that he is injured will discourage any interest in the player in the summer transfer window.
David Turnbull impressed at Celtic Park on the flag-day opener against Ross County but the first half at Pittodrie seemed to pass him by and Brendan Rodgers hooked him at the internal to send on Hatate.
Another Celtic midfielder who came off the bench at Pittodrie in the second half and made a favourable impression was Norwegian summer signing Odin Thiago Holm and the 20-year old former Valerenga star could find that he will be given an early opportunity to make an impact at Celtic over the next four weeks.
One midfielder who does look like leaving Celtic in this window is Ismaila Soro, with reports coming through last night that Celtic have accepted an offer of £128,000 for the Ivory Coast-born midfielder, from French Ligue 2 side Valenciennes.
Soro, 26, joined Celtic in a deal worth around £2million from Israeli outfit Bnei Yehuda in January 2020. He agreed a four-and-a-half year deal at Celtic and has worked under Neil Lennon and Ange Postecoglou but is not part of Brendan Rodgers’ plans in this the final 12 months of his contract.
Having been on loan in Portugal last season, Soro is now set to try his luck in French football and we wish him the best of luck.
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