04/09/2026
OPINION: Reo Hatate and Brian De Keersmaecker wouldn’t have changed our season. Here’s why:
Tony Mowbray’s appointment and keeping Toth, Moris**ta, Alebiosu and McLoughlin at the club have been our crucial bits of business this summer. Atcheson’s emergence is akin to signing a wonder kid. Moris**ta, Baradji, Gudjohnsen, Afolayan and Jorgensen will all improve now they’re settled. Miller 2.0 will come back snarling and Pickering has a point to prove. Carter and Wharton will play their part when they’re not in the treatment room, Kargbo too if he ever gets fit. Finally, Jayden Fevrier looks like a snip. All in all, it’s not the doomsday squad scenario we are led to believe it is.
If the striker we seek isn’t out there, then so be it. I haven’t seen any other team in the division pick one up and most Championship fans are singing from the same negative hymn sheet. Trust in Gudjohnsen. Yuki will be back soon enough. He’s basically Wolverine.
Having not seen a lot of the lad then I can’t comment too much on the Belgian midfielder De Keersmacker, except pointing out that he wouldn’t have had to uproot his life so much in moving from Oxford to Bristol, especially on loan. That’s fair enough. Players are people too.
Let’s be honest? Would his capture have brought that much excitement? I was more intrigued with Zidane Iqbal and he’s ended up at Dundee United. We’ve got Forshaw, we’ve got Morsy, Baradji will be back soon, Montgomery has room to flourish and Garrett can be let off the leash when required.
After falling in love with Yuki and Mori so much, then I’d happily have an entire squad of Japanese players to be fair. They appear to be impervious to age, have insane battery levels, rarely get injuries, have infectious smiles and amazing technical skill and ability. A trio of them would have been a social media and PR dream, alas.
Reo Hatate has been on the decline for the last few seasons. Celtic, very much of middling Championship level right now, aren’t too upset to lose him. He’s a little too lightweight to command central midfield and doesn’t offer anything more than Todd Cantwell as a number ten.
I’d argue that Rovers’ captain would benefit more from Mowbray giving him the keys to express himself at Ewood, building a team around him, rather than have him nervously glancing to the bench for the last 50 minutes expecting to get hooked when things aren’t dropping his way. Bradley Dack was afforded similar luxury to pull rabbits out of hats late on in games. You can’t do that if you’re sulking in the dugout.
Hatate will be 29 in November. We know from experience that the ever-rising sun doesn’t seem to set so early with these lads, but is that true of all Japanese?
From Celtic’s triumphant trinity, Kyogo was undoubtedly the shining star and he’s since flopped in France, was unrecognisable at Birmingham last season and now finds himself at LA Galaxy in the MLS knackers yard.
Daizen Maeda seems to function on the same fuel as Moris**ta and Ohashi. He could likely play three matches back-to-back for Ipswich in the top-flight. Except Yuki did show he was human at times last season, and looked jaded on a few occasions when things weren’t going for him.
I expect Maeda will impress the Portman Road faithful with his running and provide a few moments of impulsive quality in the Premier League, but he won’t be the answer to them either staying up or making an immediate return to the second-tier. He won’t be sold at profit to a bigger club in either case.
None of them have made an impact at international level in Samurai Blue. Only Daizen was in Japan’s World Cup squad and he lacked the finesse to come out of the tournament with any real credit.
The three of them have departed Parkhead as Celtic legends, with plenty of match-winning magical moments in Old Firm deciders and suitcases filled with medals.
However, is Hatate worth £6.5m with £2.5m added on for an obligatory purchase? If he succeeds up the road, then that’s another £9m they’ve already burned. He was on his way to Ewood to sign on loan. That’s the level he’s at. He’s not Premiership level. He’s Emmanuel Dennis level.
You can’t blame him for taking one last big pay day, with improved parachute payment wages, performance bonuses and a tidy signing-on fee that’s likely set him up for life. If we hiked up the price and set off the panic alarm, then who hijacked who?
That’s football. Players’ careers are notoriously short and I’ll look forward to our own Japanese warriors going to war with him soon. Cantwell v Hatate already has form. Let the battle recommence.
