Celtic look to have been handed a blow for the up-and-coming derby fixture in February, with reports suggesting that the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi could be eligible for selection for his nations World Cup qualifiers next month.

Towards the end of this month, Japan take on China and Saudi Arabia in crucial qualifying matches for the Qatar 2022 competition.

Those games fall just one day after the Hoops take on Hearts and Tynecastle, and the final match comes a day before the Derby fixture against Rangers at Parkhead.

Recently, the Japanese FA were only allowed to select players who are currently playing in the nation due to Covid-19 restrictions, which would rule Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi out of selection.

However, as reported by the Daily Record, reports from Japan have suggested that players currently playing in Europe are set to be handed an exemption due to ‘high public interest’.

It is probably unlikely that all four of our Japanese players will be selected for these fixtures. But it will still come as a blow to have even one player out of the four missing, with Kyogo being a regular in the Japan national team setup.

Ultimately, this is something that Ange has openly admitted he is expecting to happen, which would also leave us without Tom Rogic. So planning for the derby fixture appears to have become even more transparent for the Hoops boss and his coaching staff.

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