Reo Hatate

Reo Hatate (旗手 怜央, Hatate Reo, born 21 November 1997) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Celtic and the Japan national team. Hatate was born in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture and played youth football for FC Yokkaichi before studying at Shizuoka Gakuen High School and later, the Juntendo University. While studying at the Juntendo University, it was announced that Hatate would sign for J1 League side Kawasaki Frontale in 2020, when he graduates. He joined Frontale in 2018 as a designated special player and was approved to continue as a designated player in 2019. In 2019, he gained international recognition for his performances at the Toulon Tournament, where he scored two goals to help Japan to the final, where they were eventually defeated on penalties by Brazil. Hatate missed Japan's final penalty, handing the title to Brazil. Having represented Japan at youth level, Hatate was called up to the Japan U24 team for the 2020 Olympics. On 29 March 2022, Hatate made his debut for Japan against Vietnam in a World Cup Qualifier. Despite his form at Celtic during the 2022-23 season, Hatate was not included in the Japan squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This came as a surprise to many supporters and media outlets at the time, where Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu justified his decision by saying: "We selected players who will be on the same wavelength as a team, who will be able to move and link up together, who through their organisation will be able to make use of their individual strengths". Hatate has written articles for Japanese website From the Athlete, where he reflects on his footballing career so far. His first piece was published shortly after his debut for Celtic, where he spoke about his development at Kawasaki Frontale and his time with Japan under-23s at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.