Celtic’s 25-man squad for the group stages of the Champions League has been announced with Yosuke Ideguchi being the most notable absentee [UEFA].
The squad announced in full includes Joe Hart, Scott Bain, Benjamin Siegrist, Greg Taylor, Carl Starfelt, Moritz Jenz, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alexandro Bernabei, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Josip Juranovic, Aaron Mooy, David Turnbull, James McCarthy, Oliver Abildgaard, Matt O’Riley, Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Kyogo Furuhashi, Sead Hakšabanović, Liel Abada, Jota, Daizen Maeda and James Forrest.
There are rules which must be followed for the Champions League squads which is the reason behind Ideguchi having to miss out.
The stipulations require to teams to include both club-train and home nations players.
Within the category of club-trained players includes Callum McGregor, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh and James Forrest with all of them coming through the ranks at Celtic Park.
The require between the two categories is eight players which is also made up of Scott Bain, Greg Taylor, David Turnbull and James McCarthy as they all count as home nations player having played for other teams in Scotland.
Ideguchi will have to settle for domestic fixtures for the time being with his place in the squad likely moving down the pecking order due to the arrivals of Mooy and Abildgaard.
The Japanese midfielder hasn’t had a great time with injuries with it unlikely that any player would drop out the squad out with the stipulations required.
He has recently returned to training and will be hoping to make some sort of impression this campaign.
I feel sorry for Ideguchi he’s not had any luck in his Celtic career so far, in the fleeting glimpses we’ve seen of him he looks decent and he must be wondering if he’s cursed. I’m sure he will get game time domestically but the longer he’s out of the squad the further he goes from the manager’s mind, I hope his luck changes soon because there’s definitely a player in there and I wish him all the best for the future.