Kyogo Furuhashi's mentor reckons Ange Postecoglou has created a midfield of Andres Iniesta clones to help the Japanese star become an Old Firm hero.
Furuhashi once again put Rangers to the sword with another brace as Celtic won 3-2 at Parkhead to all but secure the title. He also grabbed a double in the League Cup Final too.
The forward has now scored 28 goals in all competitions for Celtic this season as Postecoglou's side push for a treble.
But the secret to his success is the service he gets from his teammates, according to Uchino Tomoaki, who was his coach as a kid at Kokoku High School and has offered up advice and encouragement ever since.
And he reckons former Yokohama F.Marinos boss Postecoglou has set his team up to play the way Vissel Kobe did when Barcelona legend Iniesta linked up with Furuhashi in the J-League a few years ago.
Iniesta said last year: "I had the opportunity to play with some of the world's best players in my career like Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry, Luis Suarez, David Villa, and Fernando Torres.
"I had a pretty good connection with Kyogo Furuhashi in Japan too."
And Tomoaki believes Postecoglou has set his Hoops team up to replicate Iniesta's influence.
He said: "It's not by luck that Kyogo has done so well in Scotland with Celtic.
"He moved to Vissel Kobe in the middle of 2018 and linked up with Andres Iniesta. That was the start of it for him.
"He scored a lot of goals because of his understanding with Iniesta.
"Ange Postecoglou knew that. When he was a manager in Japan he would have seen how to get the best out of Kyogo. He wanted to sign him when he was at Yokohama, but managed to bring him to Celtic instead.
"He has got players in his team who can pass in a similar way to Iniesta and that means he will score a lot of goals which he has done this season.
"In my opinion, Japan would have done so much better at the World Cup if Kyogo was there. There were so many times when I thought they were crying out for a player like him to finish off chances.
"But he is only 28 and can certainly play at the next World Cup.
"He's getting better all the time with Celtic and I am certain he can get even better. I think he is evolving every day in Scotland."
And Tomoaki has likened him to a famous Japanese cartoon character.
He said: "I think he's like Son Goku from Dragon Ball.
"He's usually very mild-mannered, but as soon as he gets on the pitch he turns on a switch and goes from a kind-hearted man to a fighting man!"
