"Hey, oh Reo Hatate, the Celtic get excited when we see you play, It's strange that this feeling grows more & more, But we've never loved a player like you before."

There is a poignant irony to this popular ditty that emanates from the stands at every Celtic game in homage to the man from Japan.

Reo Hatate is fast earning cult status at Celtic Park among the Glasgow East End faithful. It all sounds a bit too familiar, doesn't it?

Celtic has been in this movie before you know with one of the finest Asian players the world has ever seen.

It's perhaps apt that in the week that former Celtic hero Shunsuke Nakamura decided to hang up his playing boots there is an heir apparent - Hatate of course.

Both midfielders are blessed with a wonderful set of skills and they are two of the finest technicians to grace the Scottish game. It's a long way from the far East to Glasgow's East End but both men have made a corner of G40 their own special Paradise. Nakamura's free-kick prowess is legendary and has entered into Celtic folklore. Celtic supporters still revere him around Parkhead and rightfully so.

Check out all of his 36 goals in 166 appearances and it is very easy to understand why. You will not be disappointed with the Nakamura's showreel.

Hatate is slowly but surely building a highlights package all of his own. The 24-year-old penned a four-and-a-half-year deal for the modest fee of £1 million from Kawasaki Frontale alongside Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi last January.

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The midfielder exploded into Scottish football consciousness when he rammed the ball past Craig Gordon at lightning speed to help Celtic to a hugely significant 2-1 victory at Tynecastle. Even in slow motion, the strike was traveling like a bullet train.

A week later, a global television audience around the world saw him mark his Glasgow Derby in fine style. Hatate notches two wonderful goals in his first experience of the fixture as Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic blitzed Rangers 3-0 in February and sent a message of intent to the then Scottish Premiership champions.

His brace of shots from outside-the-box goals totally swung the momentum in the title race back in the Hoops' favour. Celtic had not only landed a player not only capable of dictating and running the midfield area but he also seemed to be able to influence the outcome of big games.

Last April he admitted to feeling elements of fatigue and seeing double before the Rangers match at Ibrox which Celtic incidentally won to all but effectively clinch the title. Postecoglou revealed that Hatate has only been a pro for the best part of two seasons and already he has scaled extraordinary heights. The levels he could possibly reach in his career are a frightening prospect.

Hatate does possess incredible levels of speed and pace in quick bursts but rarely lasts a whole match. He has started 11 of the 13 games this season with Celtic but has been substituted in those appearances. In fact, if Hatate could keep up his energy levels and stamina for the whole 90 minutes then he really would be plying his trade in the EPL, Serie A or La Liga...take your pick.

However, he does possess genuine star quality...rather like...Nakamura.

What he has in his locker you cannot really teach and he displays flashes of technical brilliance on an almost weekly basis. He has surpassed every expectation since he came to Celtic.

He drifts into pockets of space effortlessly and can regularly break the lines with a defence-splitting pass. His Celtic career to date so far has been littered with moments that exhibit his supreme technical ability like his first-time crossfield 60-yard volleyed pass against Real Madrid.

He also possesses quick feet as witnessed by his 5-a-side Muhammad Ali-like shuffle and stunning high-quality goal against Motherwell in the 4-0 League Cup quarter-final rout at Fir Park on Wednesday night.

Rather like Naka, Hatate has displayed a keen eye for goals and it seems likely the Hoops faithful will be singing his praises for years to come.

"Hey, oh Reo Hatate, The Celtic get excited when we see you play, It's strange that this feeling grows more & more, But we've never loved a player like you before."

The lyrics to the song are not strictly true. The Celtic faithful have actually loved a player like Reo Hatate before.

He was called Shunsuke Nakamura, he was special and he just happened to retire from playing football this week.

This piece is an extract from today’s Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out at 4pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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