Celtic fans have been eagerly awaiting the debuts of J-League duo Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi, after Postecoglou snapped them up before the January transfer window opened.
The 25–year–old midfielder won the player of the year award in his homeland and has already impressed in his first week of training at Lennoxtown.
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has revealed it will likely be at least another week before Iwata is in contention for the squad, still getting up to speed with things.
The versatile midfielder hasn’t played a competitive match since early November, so Postecoglou is taking his time to carefully integrate him into the team.
Postecoglou also mentioned that Yuki Kobayashi, who has been training with the squad for the past three or four weeks, is close to being ready for his debut, with the defender having extra time to get up to speed.
He said: [Daily Record]
“I’ve still to make the final decisions, but there will be some changes for St Mirren. It depends. Tomoki, probably not yet, he only really joined us in the last week, and he has missed a bit.
“Yuki is close; he came to us having started a pre-season camp, so he’s had a good three or four weeks of training.
“He obviously lacks some game-time, so we’ve got to find that game-time for him, and I think you will find we will probably give him some of that through the next couple of fixtures with the quick turnaround from midweek to Saturday.
“He’s definitely close, but for Tomoki, it will probably be another week or so before he’s in a condition to be given an opportunity.”
It appears Postecoglou will look to give the duo an opportunity in the next few fixtures with the weekend also a great opportunity to introduce players to the side.
