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Celtic and Asia have seemed like a match made in heaven for a while now after the success of signings such as Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda.

And those ties look set to be strengthened even further this summer, in what could prove to be fresh financial hell for those trying to keep up with the champions-elect.

The club could be set to extend their monetary dominance over the rest of Scottish football, thanks to their intention to tour both Japan and South Korea during pre-season. The plans, which had been circulating in reports for a number of months, were announced on social media through the use of light-hearted videos involving both native Asian players and their European team-mates. It brought much fanfare, from both supporters based in Scotland and those fans from the countries involved in the summer tour.

The Scottish champions have been no strangers to the Asian market signing a total of seven players from the continent, following in the footsteps of stars like Shunsuke Nakamura and Ki Sung-yueng.

Celtic will aim to maximise their profits by bringing the men’s first team over to their homelands during the summer break in domestic proceedings. The pre-season tour of Asia promises to provide a fresh opportunity financially in terms of sponsorships, TV rights and ticketing sales thanks to the exposure of the club and its players.

READ MORE: Why Celtic's Kyogo and Jota are on song in more ways than one

It will be the first time since 2006 that the Hoops will step foot on Asian soil after facing Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou’s previous side Yokohama F Marinos under Gordon Strachan. This tour comes after a successful trip to Australia to take part in the Sydney Super Cup during the World Cup break, where Celtic took on hosts Sydney FC and Everton in two friendly matches.

The opportunity for the club to make money on this trip is surely a mouth-watering prospect for those responsible for the club’s financial matters. This comes off the back of the PLC interim report posted in February this year, where the club posted a revenue increase of 44.8 per cent and a profit before taxation of £33.9million in the previous six months to December 31 of last year.

This is a healthy position to be in, especially when you consider the measures the club had to take when football was affected by the effects and after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent times.

Couple these financial successes with the fact that Celtic have all but wrapped up the league title, ensuring an automatic group stage place in the Champions League, and you begin to see and sense the gap that other teams domestically have to contend with budget-wise while trying to close the gap with them on the pitch.

Not having to negotiate Champions League qualifiers at the start of the season gives Celtic the scope to plan lucrative trips in the summer, allowing them to, in turn, maximise profits whilst at the same time preparing the team for the new season.

Take Rangers, for example. Despite reaching the Europa League final in last season’s competition, the Ibrox club banked £18.1million from this entire run, only a little more than the amount Celtic received for their group stage participation in the Champions League.

Celtic’s financial gap does not just relate to off-field assets and opportunities, but on the pitch as well. The club has all of its major playing assets tied down to long-term contracts, ensuring that these players will not be sold at any less than a premium rate or on the cheap.

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Postecoglou has detailed the need and requirement for the club to adopt a more aggressive transfer model when it comes to recruiting and selling assets, so this ensures Celtic will not stand still when it comes to recruitment and sales.

The club have evidently learned the lessons of the 2020/2021 season regarding contracts. They allowed players such as Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie to run down their deals, lowering their value in the process and limiting their chances of securing good profits from some of their prized on-field assets.

Observing the other end of the city’s transfer model, it is clear that Rangers have somehow managed to fall into the same trap when it comes to holding onto players for too long. Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent, two players synonymous with the club’s 2021 title win under Steven Gerrard, both look set to leave the club as free agents, despite both reportedly being the subject of lucrative transfer bids in the not-so-distant past. By failing to sell players at their optimum value and price, the club will struggle in closing the financial gap between themselves and their fiercest rivals through transfers.

Add the Asia tour into the bargain, and the Rangers board have an unenviable, some might say impossible, task to close the gap.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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