Reo Hatate's sparkling start to the season assessed

The 3-0 victory at Celtic Park made it four wins from four in the league for Brendan Rodgers and his players, who have scored 12 and conceded none to make a perfect start to their title defence.

A 3-1 win over Hibs late last month also set up a Scottish League Cup quarter-final tie with Falkirk - while a promising draw in the new-look Champions League and a successful, if albeit hectic, end to the transfer window added to the positive feeling as the opening run of games in the 2024/25 season drew to a close.

Amongst those late transfer dealings, Celtic reportedly broke their transfer record with the £11m purchase of midfielder Arne Engels from Bundesliga side Augsburg. Dundee’s Luke McCowan was also brought in as the club sought to strengthen the midfield area following the £25m-plus sale of Matt O’Riley to Brighton.

The late changes in midfield were also preceded by the move to make Paulo Bernardo’s loan move from last season permanent while the likes of Tomoki Iwata, Bosun Lawal and Daniel Kelly were moved on.

The midfield reshuffle could have continued with Reo Hatate reportedly the subject of late Premier League interest. However, having already lost the talents of O’Riley, Celtic were reluctant to let Hatate go and stood firm in the final days of the window when it came to the Japanese international.

Keeping hold of Hatate could well turn out to be one of the clubs’ best bits of business of the summer with the playmaker, like many of his teammates, making an impressive start to the season.

Here, we take a closer look at Hatate’s early season form. 

Reo Hatate's sparkling start to the season assessed

Challenging last campaign

Before assessing Hatate’s bright start to this season, it is important to recall his struggles in 2023/24.

In Rodgers’ first season back at the club, mostly due to injuries, Hatate was restricted to just seven league starts and only managed to make a meaningful impact in the final weeks as Celtic secured the league and cup double.

He had also found himself out of the side when fit with Rodgers preferring David Turnbull for the opening few league games last season before injury then kept him out of the first derby of 2023/24. He was back in action later in September but a hamstring injury in the Champions League match against Atletico in October was followed by a calf issue at the Asian Cup in January that kept him out until March.

His return did coincide with Celtic’s best run of form towards the end of the season. However, after leaving him out for a few games at the start of the season, Rodgers was then critical of his use of the ball in the second half of the last league derby.

Greater goal threat

Hatate looks to have put last season, and any potential transfer talk, behind him to make an impressive start to his 2024/25 campaign though, especially in front of goal.

The former Kawasaki Frontale man got the title defence up and running for Celtic, scoring the opener in the 4-0 win over Kilmarnock on Flag Day. He followed that up a few weeks later with a fine finish from the edge of the box in the 3-0 win away at St Mirren.

Those two strikes in the opening four league games are just one off of his total of three in last season’s Scottish Premiership campaign.

Just four games is a super small sample size of course but Hatate’s is so far averaging more shots this season, 3.82 per 90 compared to 3.18 per 90 last season (StatsBomb). His Shot on-ball-value (OBV), which contains both decision-making information and shot execution information on a player, has also jumped from -0.07 per 90 last season to 0.05 per 90 this. The 26-year-old is also so far averaging over one more touch in the box (7.36 per 90 this season, 6.11 per 90 last season).

Filling the creative void

The loss of O’Riley has of course left a creative deficit in the Celtic midfield. Although Bernardo has impressed in his two appearances since O’Riley’s departure to the Premier League, the Portuguese is not the same naturally creative type.

There is also, to some extent, still an unknown quantity about what Engels will bring to the midfield.  

Already a creative force when O’Riley was there, even more of the creativity from midfield will now likely need to come from Hatate. Again, a look into the early numbers here shows encouraging signs.

Of all Scottish Premiership players to play more than 300 minutes in the opening four rounds of fixtures, Hatate leads the way when it comes to open-play key passes (2.45 per 90).

In terms of the quality of chances created, only his in-form teammate Alistair Johnston betters Hatate in the league when it comes to open play xG assisted – Canadian right-back Johnston posting 0.38 per 90 to Hatate’s 0.31.

Again, these are still very small sample sizes, but Hatate’s 0.31 xG assisted per 90 this season is so far trending above his 0.19 per 90 last season and just above what O’Riley posted in the league last season (0.27 xG assisted per 90).

Better security on the ball

As mentioned earlier, the manager was pretty vocal last season about what he felt were aspects of Hatate’s game that needed improvement if he was to be a regular for him.

One of which was his work off-the-ball, which so far this season, give or take a few differences in some metrics, he is coming in around the same. He is pressing more in the opposition half but that is down to him being the one now tasked with joining Kyogo as the second forward when Celtic press in their 4-4-2 out-of-possession shape.

Perhaps more important, was Hatate’s security on the ball. As a creative player, some form of risk when playing those more difficult line-breaking/chance-creating passes is always expected. However, Hatate’s high level of risk seemed to be at odds with Rodgers to some extent with the manager of course a big proponent of ball retention and control in games.

Once again, small sample size warnings apply, but there are positive signals here too. Hatate has so far more than halved his turnover rate from last season, just 1.36 per 90, compared to 3.44 per 90 last season. All while still retaining, and even increasing, that level of creative output. 

Conclusion

With all the changes in midfield, including new arrivals such as the high-profile Engels, Hatate’s fine start to the season has perhaps gone under the radar a little in the last few weeks.

However, his early performances underline just how important he still is and will continue to be for this Celtic squad, particularly following the departure of O’Riley.

Although Engels has yet to show what he is all about, there is a case, for now anyway, that Hatate remains the most creative and technically astute player available to Rodgers.

There will of course be more to come from the likes of Engels, as well as Bernardo and McCowan in the weeks ahead, while captain Callum McGregor will no doubt remain a key lynchpin at the base of the midfield. It will certainly be fascinating to see what combination of midfield three the manager looks to game-to-game.

What is certain, though, is the qualities that Hatate brings to the Celtic midfield are almost unique. If Celtic are to carry their early season form into the next stage of the campaign, where bigger challenges lie in wait, then expect Hatate to be front and centre.