HAJIME Moriyasu, the Japan national team manager, revealed that he had not travelled to Scotland during his European tour.

However, he did have his sights set on Kyogo and Reo Hatate during Celtic‘s 1–0 victory over Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

Moriyasu has been criticised for not including both players in the World Cup squad, despite being some of Scotland’s best players leading up to the World Cup, with Reo Hatate and Kyogo both in the running for Player of the Year now. 

Their teammate, Daizen Maeda, has been a cornerstone of the Samurai Blue, and scored at the World Cup.

It was anticipated that Moriyasu would visit Glasgow. However, he has admitted that he assigned two of his closest advisors to attend the semi–final at the national stadium last month.

Speaking after his tour of the continent, he stated: [Daily Record]

“I didn’t. I asked coach Hiroshi Nanami and coach Ryoichi Maeda to go to the semi-final.”

So, Celtic’s Kyogo and Hatate are not completely out of the picture yet, with the national team still keeping tabs on the pair.