Pundit suggests real reason for Kyogo Furuhashi and Celtic teammate’s snubs
Alan Hutton is surprised Celtic pair Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate have been left out of the Japan World Cup squad.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Rangers striker said Japan must have an “incredibly talented” squad to omit the duo.
Hajime Moriyasu named his 27-man World Cup squad on Tuesday (1 November) and while Daizen Maeda made the cut, his Japanese teammates were left out.
As quoted by the Scotsman (1 November), the national team boss said he had lots of good players to choose from but insisted he has picked players who will “be on the same wavelength”.
Moriyasu added that even if he was able to take 30 players to the tournament in Qatar there would still be difficult decisions to be made.
When asked for his assessment of the latest, Hutton told Football Insider: “I was surprised.
“I think Hatate has been outstanding this season. Obviously Kyogo has had his injury problems but we all know what he is capable of.
“The one thing I take out of that is that Japan must have a really strong squad for this World Cup.
“If they are leaving those type of players, who we see on a regular basis performing at a high level, even in the Champions League. To leave them out the squad, not just the starting XI, they must have some incredibly talented players in there.
“I am looking forward to seeing some of their games to see what they are capable of.“
In other news, a pundit has told Celtic to U-turn on Yuki Kobayashi deal after update from Japan.