Celtic are likely to be in the market for another striker this summer, and Ado Onaiwu is one player that Ange Postecoglou will be well aware of from his time in Japan.
Odsonne Edouard’s future is unclear, Leigh Griffiths has been handed a new deal but isn’t exactly a player to rely on week in and week out anymore, and Albian Ajeti struggled in his first season at Parkhead.
New boss Postecoglou will surely move for another striker, and a move to raid former club Yokohama F. Marinos could make some sense.
Their striker Onaiwu is quite unique in that he holds both Japanese and Nigerian nationalities, though he chose to play for Japan – and already has three goals in just two caps.
Onaiwu played under Postecoglou for Yokohama, becoming a star with 23 goals and seven assists in 60 games for the J-League side.
The 25-year-old is understandably attracting interest outside of Asia now, and there have been murmurings of interest from Celtic and Postecoglou.
Offering real pace and a surprising aerial threat, Onaiwu could be left-field answer to Celtic’s striking situation thanks to his history under Postecoglou.
Onaiwu has now commented on Celtic, admitting that he has read the speculation about a move to Parkhead but is only focusing on winning the J-League title with Yokohama F. Marinos, stating that his future will take care of itself down the line.
“I’ve read about the speculation about my future, but my only thought at the moment is to try and catch Kawasaki Frontale in the league because they are nine points ahead of us,” said Onaiwu, as quoted by The Scottish Sun. “I think I’ve had a pretty good season and a lot of that is down to the chances created by my teammates.”
“We are on a great run after winning six matches in a row and I think you can see that we have not let the loss of the manager cause us problems. I believe I have improved a lot even from last year and this season I am scoring chances that I may have missed last season. But to win the league I must keep scoring goals and that’s what I want to do here. The future will take care of itself,” he added.
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