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There's no doubt Celtic's recruitment policy from Asia has been immensely fruitful over the last two seasons. Explored as an avenue after now-former manager Ange Postecoglou joined the club in June 2021, it has provided the Scottish champions with plenty of quality players. Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have become top performers and firm fan favourites during their spell at the Hoops. Oh Hyeon-gyu, Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata only joined in the most recent window but have shown promising signs so far. Yosuke Ideguchi has been the only transfer from the region not to work, with him currently on loan at Avispa Fukuoka in his homeland until the end of the year.

A name that has stood out from the beginning after bursting onto the scene against Hearts and Rangers has been Hatate. The 25-year-old has been a revelation at Parkhead, providing 13 goals 14 assists in 66 appearances, as well as several Player of the Match performances to boot. In last season's Champions League campaign, he showed he could mix it with Europe's elite as he performed well against Real Madrid, despite a disappointing group stage for Celtic. These sorts of performances inevitably attract interest, with Tottenham Hotspur reportedly keen to reunite Hatate with Postecoglou.

Another side added their name to the mix recently, with Saudi Arabian champions Al-Ittihad interested, according to reports in the country, in adding the Japanese midfielder to their ranks. While the player's agent has subsequently denied this move is a possibility, it demonstrates that a player who Celtic signed for £1.4million could potentially generate a large amount of income for the club.

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Hatate himself addressed the recent transfer interest while on international duty.

He said: "If there is a chance to step up, I would like to play in various leagues. As a football player, I think everyone wants to play at a high level throughout the season. When I was in the J-League, I thought it was impossible to play in the five major leagues.

"However, because I was able to achieve a certain amount of results throughout the season with Celtic, I started to think that I would like to challenge myself next time. If there is a chance, I would like to take on the challenge. Of course, if I stay with this team, I can still have good experiences, and next season I will be in the Champions League. I think that by always standing at the top and fighting, I will be mentally stronger, so it would be nice if I stayed."

Even if he does not move on, the concept of Celtic being able to try and exploit the market in its current state is one that the club should take advantage of. Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante have raised the profile of the Saudi Pro League, however, the argument could be made in that these are individuals in the twilight of their careers. Whereas someone like Ruben Neves leaving Wolves at the peak of his powers to go and join the division opens a whole can of worms. 

Manchester City star Bernado Silva is also another the league is reportedly trying to attract. If he was to make a move to Saudi Arabia, then this would be a significant challenge to the Premier League money bubble.

Celtic could find themselves in a situation where they are able to exploit the ever-changing football landscape. Talented players would no longer just have the riches of the Premier League to choose from, which in turn, would force English sides to increase their bids to rival those of Saudi Arabian clubs. While fans will be keen to hold onto prized assets such as Hatate, Kyogo, Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers, the club could undoubtedly have an opportunity in the near future where they can play teams off against each other who have serious financial backing.

If the Saudi money bubble does not burst, and let's face it they have plenty of it rolling around given their oil riches, then Celtic could use this new environment of football finances to replenish their squad when needed and Brendan Rodgers could use this to his advantage.

The 50-year-old stated in his first spell in charge that the club had historically undersold players. He also commented on how the Celtic were always at the mercy of the Premier League in terms of losing talent.

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"No matter what my feeling is I have to respect where the club is at," he said in 2018. "The club isn’t a Premier League club down south.  They’re always going to have to be mindful of the types of salaries that they can pay because it is a totally different market. I don’t run the club. The club have had a very clear structure of how they work. Of course, these last couple of years have been great years for us. I have got no reason not to ever believe that club don’t want that either."

These comments were subsequently looked back on as the Northern Irishman criticising the board for the recruitment options, which is thought to be one of the reasons for his departure in 2019.

While Celtic players remain within the clutches of teams down south, the emergence of the Saudi Pro League allows for clubs in England to think more closely when attempting to hoover up talent. The Celtic board must be vigilant and use every possible advantage to maximise profit for their players. It seems like the current market is as good an opportunity as any to break the £25m transfer record set by Kieran Tierney's move to Arsenal in 2019.

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

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