CELTIC are being lined up for friendlies against Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich in a lucrative summer tour of Japan.
Ange Postecoglou and the Hoops have forged links with the Far East with the former Yokohama F Marinos boss signing SIX players from the country since arriving at Parkhead in June 2021.
Kyogo Furuhashi was the first in a £4.6million swoop from Vissel Kobe a month after the Greek-Australian’s appointment and the striker was followed with a triple swoop on the J-League at the turn of last year with Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi, who has just returned to Japan, arriving in Glasgow.
Central defender Yuki Kobayashi and the top-flight’s Player of the Year, Tomoki Iwata, joined in the January transfer window.
Japanese media have reported that Lionel Messi’s PSG are heading to the country in the close season.
FOUR-MIDABLE…Celtic’s Japanese quartet of Yosuke Ideguchi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi after last season’s league win at Tannadice in May.
And reports have also stated that the Hoops, Pep Guardiola’s men and the Bavarian giants have also been discussed, too, by organisers for a mini-tournament.
J-League sides are also likely to be included in the plans.
Celtic travelled to Yokohama in 2006 to capitalise on the legendary status of fans’ favourite Shunsuke Nakamura.
The champions, who have just announced a £33.9million profit plus £59million in the bank, travelled to Australia in November for a seven-figure sum to play in the Sydney Super Cup against the local team and Everton.
Of the likelihood of a Japan trip, Postecoglou, speaking to the Scottish Sun, admitted: “I know how big the Japanese market is.
“That’s not me driving it, that’s Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay and the others in the commercial and management team.
“But we have to buy into it as a football department, we have to acknowledge it helps us in the long run.
“Everything we can do commercially to make this club stronger, the more revenue we will generate.”
