CALLUM McGREGOR is convinced Celtic’s Japanese new Bhoys will hit the ground running.
The Hoops skipper has been massively impressed by the three J-League recruits – Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi – in training at Lennoxtown as the team prepare for the Premiership restart with the visit of Hibs on Monday evening at a rocking Parkhead.
The trio have already made a great first impression on the Scotland international midfielder who has praised their initial impact at the club.
READY TO GO…Japanese new Bhoys Yosuke Ideguchi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate have settled in well.
Rating the newcomers, McGregor said: “Great – really technical players, understand what the manager wants from them in terms of him being over there as coach, as well.
“Full of energy, full of pressing – very similar to Kyogo in that sense that they’ll work really hard fort the team and then they’ve got that quality as well to go along with it.
“Early signs are very good and it’s just about just trying to bed them into the team and club and make sure they understand the culture and everything that we’re trying to do at Lennoxtown and Celtic Park.
“I’m sure they’ll be desperate to get into the game, as well.”
CELTIC VIEW…Callum McGregor opens up on the impact of the newcomers. Image courtesy Celtic TV.
McGregor, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “We’ve had a really busy first-half of the season, but the games and the training are slightly different at that point.
“It’s good to almost get like a mini pre-season where you get a real hit in your legs and then we can taper in terms of the detail we want to train, the way we want to play – and then also you get a wee bit competitive in the training.
“Training has been really strong, everyone looks good, the new lads have settled in really well, so it’s positive.”
Monday night’s fixture with the Edinburgh visitors will be the third meeting of the teams this season with the Hoops winning the previous two – 3-1 in the Premiership at Easter Road in October and 2-1 in the Premier Sports League Cup Final at Hampden last month.
