The main activity was at the other end of the park with Celtic’s two first half goalscorers the main sources of creativity.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out because all the signs so far are that Hatate was heading towards the exit door.
The problems Celtic face with Hatate and Abada, and probably Matt O’Riley is that they are already on long term deals with relatively modest wages.
Following the Glasgow Derby Celtic don’t play again until September 16 when they host Dundee which probably eases the decision on Hatate for Ibrox.
Anyone that watches the Celtic duo knows that they are a cut above players that are routinely traded around the EPL for £20-30m.
Celtic aren’t short of midfield options but until last Saturday most fans would have started with Callum McGregor and Hatate plus AN Other as their midfield trio.
Hatate looked in absolute top form when Celtic played Yokohama F Marinos and Gamba Osaka but looked badly off the pace in his 45 minute appearance against Athletic Bilbao.
Incredibly Hatate’s fee seemed to involved around £1.2m going to Kawasaki Frontiers, it was a Larsson like steal.
Reo Hatate had the biggest assist possible in the 1-1 draw away to Shakhtar Donetsk but that incident where he was almost credited with a goal summed up Celtic’s luck in the Champions League. Bad luck.
That transition was smoother than many anticipated but finding a replacement for Hatate to slot into a side preparing for the Champions League would be a far tougher task.