Postecoglou excited by new Bhoy Kobayashi

ANGE POSTECOGLOU last night hailed the ‘great potential’ of Yuki Kobayashi after the promising young Vissel Kobe defender became Celtic’s fifth signing from Japan. The 22-year-old left-sided centre-half joins fellow J-League products Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi at the Scottish champions. His arrival also comes at an exciting time for Japanese football after yesterday’s 2-1 win for the national side over Germany at the World Cup. Kobayashi, who has signed a five-year deal, will join his new team-mates on December 1 and will be eligible to make his Celtic debut from January 1. Postecoglou, who previously

coached in Japan with Yokohama F Marinos, was delighted to sign a player who has been on his radar for some time. The Celtic boss said: ‘Yuki is someone we’ve been following for a while and it was a great opportunity to bring him in. ‘He’s a left-sided centre-back and they’re hard to find. ‘I think we saw last year that bringing in guys nice and early gives us the opportunity to bed them in, in that six-month period of the second half of the season, and we’re really looking forward to having him as part of the group. ‘He’s at a really good age where he’s already had some great experience but with great potential ahead of him.’ It’s believed Celtic were keen to recruit a left-sided defender following interest in Stephen Welsh in recent transfer windows. The Premiership leaders could also be on the lookout for a new right-back as they brace themselves for fresh interest in Josip Juranovic after the World Cup finals. Postecoglou plans to bring in at least two fresh faces in the January transfer window, with another striker likely to compete with Giorgos Giakoumakis and Furuhashi. ‘It’s fair to say there’s a couple lined up,’ said the Celtic boss recently. ‘It’s how I believe we need to be.’