Celtic Land Major Profit on Forgotten Defender

Hayato Inamura’s short Celtic spell looks set to end permanently, with reports in Japan claiming FC Tokyo have reached an agreement to sign the defender.

The Japanese centre-back joined Celtic from Albirex Niigata last summer in a low-cost deal worth around £250,000. He arrived as a left-sided defender who could cover more than one role, but his move to Glasgow never really got going.

Inamura made just one senior appearance for Celtic before falling out of the first-team picture. By January, the club allowed him to return to Japan on loan with FC Tokyo, where he has since found regular football again.

Now that loan move appears to be heading towards a permanent transfer, and Celtic look set to make a healthy profit on a player who barely featured.

Japanese journalist Kazu Kakiuchi has reported the latest on Inamura’s future.

🚨Exclusive: FC Tokyo has finalized the permanent transfer of Hayato Inamura from Scottish club Celtic. An agreement has already been reached between the clubs. The transfer fee is estimated at €1.5 million. done deal 100% #稲村隼翔

— Kazu Kakiuchi (@kazubaggio) June 6, 2026

If the reported fee is accurate, Celtic will bring in around six times what they paid for Inamura less than a year ago.

That is good business financially, even if the football side of the move never worked out. Inamura was clearly not part of the immediate first-team picture, and his return to Japan gave him the game time he was unlikely to get at Parkhead.

For Celtic, it also clears another squad place ahead of what could be a busy summer. The club already have several defenders on the books and will need to make decisions on who fits into the plans of Martin O’Neill.

Inamura’s departure would not come as a surprise.

Once he went back to Japan and began playing regularly, a permanent move always looked like the most likely outcome. The only question was whether Celtic could turn his brief spell into a profit.

That now appears to be the case.