Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has admitted that his side is planning for next month’s derby fixture with the absence of Kyogo Furuhashi and Tom Rogic in mind.
The crucial duo could be set for a call-up to their nations World Cup qualifiers for both Japan and Australia at the beginning of February, which would result in them missing several of the Hoops key fixtures, including the Glasgow Debry against Rangers.
To add to that, new additions, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi, could also be in the mix, as well as central defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, with the possibility of the American internationalist receiving a recall to his national side.
Postecoglou has confirmed that the club won’t try and talk the players or their international sides out of this despite those concerns. Instead, they are planning for the fixture with this in mind.
“This has been in our planning for a while now,” he said, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“We’ve known that they are going to be away in that period if they get selected.
“And I totally understand that whatever fixtures we have at that time, they’re likely to miss out.
“They are World Cup games, so there are no negotiations. Both countries have important qualifiers, and the World Cup is important to every country, irrespective of where you come from.
“We are obliged to release the players, and we will.”
Although having all six players mentioned above missing is unlikely, we are almost definitely facing the possibility of one or two players heading off on international duty during this crucial period.
It has still to be officially confirmed as to whether the Japanese contingency within the squad will be able to travel with the current Covid restrictions. However, the national team’s technical director, Yasuharu Sorimach, is currently in talks about exemptions for players in Europe.
We will await this confirmation in the coming weeks. For now, though, Postecoglou and his coaching staff are going about things in the right way, preparing for the worst-case scenario.
