Last January, when Celtic entered the Japanese transfer market, it was always going to go one of two ways.
It could have gone down the path of Pedro Caixinha who was allowed to bring in a host of players from his homeland and who he had worked with before rather than being guided by a long-term plan but, in Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, he signed three players who made an immediate impact to his first team – much to our cost.
Furuhashi in particular is a frustrating one because Patrick Caskie, who has contributed to This is Ibrox and The Rangers Review in producing scouting reports, suggested that he would be a good fit for Giovanni van Bronckhorst either as a central striker or out wide long before he signed for Celtic.
Our needs have changed though and strength in midfield is now a priority. A player capable of supporting John Lundstram either in protecting the defence or linking the attack and in Atsuki Ito, Caskie has found a J-League option who perfectly fits the bill.
The Player is Urawa’s, Atsuki Ito. Any interested party, as far as I am aware, can pick him up for free when his deal expires on the 31st of January 2023. Great value to be had for someone. https://t.co/1JySwQvCcI pic.twitter.com/A39KSJONtA
— Patrick Caskie (@patrickcaskie) November 9, 2022
Out of contract in January, Ito has a similar flexibility to Lundstram in that he can play as a 6 or an 8 in terms of traditional midfield roles but he is clearly capable of contributing at either end when you consider the graphic provided by Caskie.
Free transfers and pre-contract deals will be absolutely key for Rangers over the next six-months or so given the scale of the rebuild that is required of the squad and, for once, following in Celtic’s footsteps could well see us land a bargain.