HAYATO INAMURA CELTIC DEBUT SURPRISES CRITICS: BUT MEDIA STILL TRIES TO BE NEGATIVE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 8 hours ago
- 2 min read
I keep saying it, but it’s truly incredible how any positive story can be spun into a negative by our press when it comes to Celtic.
The latest victims of this trend are Hayato Inamura, Celtic's latest signing, and his manager, Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers was non-committal last Friday when asked about Inamura’s role in the first team squad last Friday, shortly after the 23-year-old left-sided defender was officially paraded by the club.
Rodgers Never Said Hayato Inamura Celtic Signing was a “Project”
As a reminder, Brendan Rodgers said on Inamura on Friday night “We’ll have a look at him during pre-season and decide which is best for the player. Whether he stays with the first team squad or goes out on loan.”
So, headlines this morning claiming that Inamura’s strong debut at left back against Cork City had “forced Brendan Rodgers into a rethink” are wrong, and needlessly inflammatory.
A “rethink” suggests that Brendan Rodgers had already made up his mind about the player. That’s not how our manager operates.
Unlike so many in our Scottish football press, Brendan Rodgers doesn't make rash decisions or allow himself to be guided by preconceptions, assumptions and ignorance.
He said he would give Inamura a chance to show what he could do in pre-season, and Inamura took that challenge and stepped up.
Now, it is just one game, against, with the greatest of respect to Cork City, quite low-level opposition, but certainly Inamura will now be part of the plans for Celtic’s upcoming pre-season matches.
Further solid performances over the next few weeks should cement his place in the first team squad for the coming season.
Or, he might still go out on loan. Brendan Rodgers is still assessing the player. But as usual, our media, in their desperation to grab everyone’s attention with a controversial headline, framed this positive story as a negative.
The implication that our manager showed poor or prejudicial judgement in his comments last Friday, is simply wrong.
I think it only fair that we leave the final word on this to the manager himself: Brendan Rodgers.
Speaking after yesterday’s 2-1 win over Cork City, he said the following of Inamura:
“I’m not fixed on sending him out (on loan). The feeling from us was: ok, bring him in and see how he does pre-season.
“I've got to say, he’s surprised me. He’s shown in the last few days training that he's so smooth with the ball. Not only that, he plays forward. When you play for Celtic, you have to pass it forward.”
Though full of praise for Inamura, Rodgers did close out his interview by reaffirming that no decision has been made yet.
He added: “He will need to develop physically, but certainly from what I’ve seen so far, I’ve liked it. We will see how he does for the rest of the pre-season.”