Tam McManus insists Ange Postecoglou cannot be criticised for his recruitment at Celtic but that one player's arrival has been a 'failure'.
The Hoops have been overwhelmingly fruitful in their recruitment since Postecoglou arrived in the summer of 2021 with massive hits such as Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers all becoming fan favourites at Parkhead. The smart acquisitions of Joe Hart, Aaron Mooy and Matt O'Riley have also proved crucial to the Scottish champions' title plight.
Postecoglou also introduced four new faces in the January transfer window, with defenders Alistair Johnston and Yuki Kobayashi already impressing while Tomoki Iwata and Hyeon-gyu Oh are yet to make their full impact. But former Hibs man McManus believes one star did fall through the cracks.
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Fringe man Yosuke Ideguchi, who arrived alongside stars Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, failed to make the desired impact and has now sealed a year-long loan move to his homeland with Avispa Fukuoka. The 26-year-old managed just six appearances in total at Celtic and hasn't featured this season owing to injury issues and hot competition for places.
McManus told Football Insider: “In fairness to Ange, Ideguchi might be one of only two transfers you could say have been a failure on his watch.
“The rest of the Japanese players have been excellent and you can’t get everything right in recruitment. It’s hard to judge because no one has really seen him.
“He hasn’t kicked a ball for Celtic then he gets an injury right at the start. I don’t think he has ever recovered and it is so hard to get into that midfield at the best of times.
“As long as you are getting more right than you are getting wrong in recruitment then you will stay ahead of the game. Ideguchi just hasn’t been a success, unfortunately. I don’t think you will see him again at Celtic.”
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