Celtic close in on deal for “fantastic” talent

Celtic’s winning start to pre-season continues.

On Tuesday evening, the Hoops beat Cork City 2-1 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, with Luke McCowan breaking the deadlock, before young defender Colby Donovan forced home a late winner.

Next up, Brendan Rodgers’ side are in Portugal to face Estrela da Amadora behind-closed-doors on Saturday, before a green-and-white Clásico against Primeira Liga champions Sporting CP at Estádio Algarve next Wednesday.

Back at home, Peter Lawwell and the recruitment team continue to be busy in the transfer market, so could Celtic soon sign a new striker?

Celtic’s search for a new striker

Fair to say, Celtic will need to add more attacking firepower in the coming weeks.

Kyōgo Furuhashi has not been replaced, after being sold in January, while Nicolas Kühn is on his way to Como for a reported fee of £16.3m.

Meantime, Benjamin Nygren has arrived from Nordsjælland for around £1.7m, but supporters are demanding more reinforcements, so could that be about to arrive?

Well, according to a report by Japanese outlet Hochi News, Celtic are ‘close’ to signing striker Shin Yamada from Kawasaki Frontale.

Martin McMillan of the Glasgow Times adds that a fee of £1.5m has been agreed between the two clubs.

The 25-year-old is currently representing Japan at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, a tournament for East Asian nations, with the Samurai Blue facing China on Saturday and then hosts Korea Republic on Tuesday, after which Yamada will travel to Glasgow to finalise his move.

He will become the tenth Japanese player to represent Celtic, joining fellow new recruit Hayato Inamura, so will he be a massive success like new teammates Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and the aforementioned Kyōgo?

How Shin Yamada will improve Celtic

Yamada began his senior football career at college side Toin University of Yokohama, before joining Kawasaki Frontale in 2022, scoring 32 goals in 121 appearances for the Sky Blue and Blacks.

The club’s biggest achievement during this period came back in April, reaching the AFC Champions League Final for the very first time, dumping out Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr in the semis, before a 2-0 defeat to Al-Ahli in Jeddah, with Yamada introduced as a half-time substitute in that final.

Yamada’s own personal breakout campaign was the 2024 J League season, scoring 19 times in the league last year, bagging 21 goals throughout the calendar year across all competitions, so let’s assess his statistics.

As the table outlines, only two players, namely Brazilian duo Anderson Lopes and Leonardo, scored more J League goals than Yamada last year, with the Japanese forward averaging a goal every 105 minutes, an impressive tally for the team that finished tenth.

This form led to Ryo Nakagawara of Shogun Soccer describing him as “fantastic”, adding that he is a “natural finisher” who possesses “excellent movement” in the box, while also offering a threat in-behind due to his “quick acceleration”.

So, why might the Japanese international prove to be a better signing than Nygren?

Let’s take a look at their respective statistics.

Yamada was absolutely on fire last season, starring in, according to Global Football Rankings, the 23rd best league in the world, which is 20 places higher than the Scottish Premiership.

Japanese players Maeda, Kyōgo and Hatate have all arrived at Celtic and hit the ground running, and Yamada could surely do the same, considering he’s in the middle of his domestic season and currently playing at an international tournament.

Meantime, Nygren hasn’t been in action since Sweden’s 4-3 friendly win over Algeria at Nationalarenan on 10 June, so may require some time to get up to speed, while he also isn’t a guaranteed starter, if other winger targets were to arrive.

Indeed, it is centre-forward where Rodgers is truly in need of depth, amid Kyogo’s prior departure, hence why Yamada could prove to be a better and more important signing than the Swede.

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