Reo Hatate

Noticed a few SPL players on pods etc saying he is our best player/hardest to play against . Halliday( I know ) today saying he's Celtic's best player.

 

He certainly has been in excellent form of late thats for sure.

 

He'll be gone in the summer.

28 in November, surprised he's been here this long in all honesty.

 

We need to really get our recruitment spot on in the middle in the summer. Especially if he goes(the balance and quality suffers massively and puts even more emphasis on McGregor to perform ) we will need two in .

 

He's incredibly inconsistent.

On any given week he can look like he's won a competition to play for us and on the next he can look an absolute world beater.

If he wants to stay, I'm fine with that but we do need someone who is more consistent.

 

Agreed @Hammy89 .

I honestly wont be bothered too much if he does leave.

At one point he looked like a cert to our next big payday.
The next, like a player who seriously could not be bothered even being on the pitch.

I always have this nagging feeling that he only shows up when hes committed to putting himself in the shop window. Again, looking like a world beater again as the summer transfer window draws closer.

Will he be actually missed in the real question. For me, no, not particularly.

The games where he puts in an absolute masterclass are few and far between. Most of his play in recent years has been divided into an empty shirt who pops up with a decent pass, or an absolute 45 minute liability.

His inconsistency will cost him a proper, real bank busting move. Hes destined for a kyogo move. A sidestep into a better league with a lower team.

 

Tell him he's free to go if he puts in the performances to get us a £15-20M fee before the window, which he probably will, and go out separate ways happy... We need to maximise his fee and replace more squad with quality that's fresh and keen to improve and impress

 

Id imagine Rodgers would have the common sense and man management acumen to have already done that.

Rodgers was waxing lyrical about him in August, saying he was finally seeing the real Hatate after being initially disappointed.
Id wager he told him he was free to leave this summer, as long as his value reached a level that matched his potential.

But i honestly cant see us getting more that 12m for him.

 

My only issue with this is we had a similar thing with Rogic where folk would moan that he doesn't tackle enough and can be deemed a 'luxury' player which is all well and good, but these kind of players might not provide 90mins of consistency but they can provide one moment of magic that the other players simply couldn't in 900 minutes of play. If we don't find a replacement who has that level of vision, skill or general quality to provide those moments then we do weaken our team, even if his replacement gives a 7/10 every game. It's a big reason I think Rodgers has kept him on despite playing poorly and others are subbed first. The Young Boys and Aberdeen games being the most obvious examples.

 

I'll also add that when he plays well, we play our best football. McGregor sets the tone but Hatate on his game influences our style the most.

 

I think we'll get the £15M, to be honest... We're not the team that accepts the reduced fees we used to be... I'm not sure of his contract length, which could be the only major factor, but his talent is unquestionable, national status definite and he's capable of being top tier

 

Halliday has always stated he feels Hatate is the best midfielder in the country. He doesn’t even think it’s close either. He thinks Hatate is miles ahead of everyone when he’s on his game. Hard to argue. The problem is, Hatate is not always on his game.

 

This literally sums Hatate up he actually has from an attacking sense everything in his locker, he can finish both from close in or range, he makes intelligent off ball runs like our third at the weekend which was reminiscent of a goal we scored in the 22/23 league cup final, he can spot and play some exceptional through balls, switches of play, he can carry the ball and turn on it under pressure using fast footwork or body movement to wrong foot opponents and is capable of ridiculous close control and skill.

He doesn’t do it all the time or it could be argued often enough but if he did he would have left Celtic a long time ago.

The 22/23 season up until his Hamstring went he was the man who made us tick, despite all Kyogo’s goals he was probably the most important player in that team for the majority of the season.

What he does lack is the defensive side and I actually don’t think him and McGregor are a great fit in the same midfield as it means there is a lot of emphasis on the other midfielder to do a lot of physical work. Both would likely benefit from playing with two athletic type centre midfielders, despite them playing two different roles.

 

It’s hard to quantify, Calmac is peerless in the midfield for me the consistency of the level he plays at.

Before that, it was him and O’Riley but would have still said Calmac and did at the time, O’Riley consistently approached they levels.

Hatate though, when he hits his top level, not judging him from when not hitting they levels purely when he has one of those games. I don’t think I can think of another CM I’ve seen at Celtic that matches it. Infact the player I’d compare it to is Lubo. Some of what he does is shades of Lubo.

If we had a 3 man midfield rather than 442, and this is subjective because we never seen it, Nakamura in the middle with a 3 man midfield would be the comparison

 

Early games the way he'd spin away and spray long pin point passes straight to feet reminded me of McStay. Does less of that now.

 

Such an intelligent player off the ball, when he's on form.

 

Has a great understanding with Mcgregor now , coming deep into the 6 and receiving the ball on the turn allowing Callum to run off him, he finds him on the turn and we are away. Happened plenty today and the last few weeks and I think lead to a goal . Really enjoy watching him play lately. Sharp as *.