Reo Hatate’s value has tripled since the central midfielder’s £1.4m move to Celtic in the January transfer window.
What’s been said?
That’s according to a claim made by former Premier League centre-forward Gabby Agbonlahor, who stated his belief in a recent interview with Football Insider that, despite having only played six games in his Celtic career, the 24-year-old’s value has increased three-fold since his arrival at Parkhead – meaning the Japan international is now worth around £4.2m.
Speaking about Celtic’s signing of Hatate, Agbonlahor said: “I’ll say this, what I’ve got to praise Celtic for is their recruitment. Celtic and Rangers don’t have a lot of money. Celtic have gone out and got four Japanese players and two of them, so far, look like absolute bargains.
“I’m sure they’ll be going back to Japan to look for more because they look like really talented players. For Hatate to perform like that in his first Old Firm game in such a tense atmosphere was outstanding. They were so cheap. Given his performances, Hatate has probably tripled in value already. It’s good business from Celtic.”
Celtic struck gold on Hatate
While Celtic fans may not appreciate Agbonlahor’s suggestion that the Hoops do not have a lot of money, the former Aston Villa striker is probably not too far off in his claim that Hatate’s market valuation will have increased dramatically following his sensational start to life in Scotland.
Indeed, over his six Premiership appearances for the Bhoys, the £1.08m-rated midfielder has already scored three goals, registered two assists and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.8 shots and making 1.2 key passes per game.
The 24-year-old has also impressed in metrics more typical of his central midfield position, making an average of one interception, 0.8 tackles, 32.5 passes and winning 3.2 duels per fixture.
These returns have seen the Japanese sensation average a quite remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.32, ranking him as the eighth-best performer in the top flight of Scottish football so far this season.
As such, with Fabrizio Romano recently claiming that Josip Juranovic’s market value is now somewhere between €10-€15m (£8.5m-£12.5m) – a player Celtic signed for just £2.5m last summer – should Hatate continue his current level of form, it would not be surprising for the midfielder to have a market value of somewhere similar to the Croatia international come the end of the season.
That said, the Bhoys would be very unlikely to accept an offer for the 24-year-old for a bid in this region.
Either way, one thing is for certain, Postecoglou struck gold upon his signing of Hatate last month – as the Japan international very much has the potential to make Celtic a fortune in the future.
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