Defender and J-League Player of the Year Tomoki Iwata will join Scottish giants Celtic on loan through June, the J-League champion Yokohama F Marinos announced Friday.
The 25-year-old Iwata made his senior national team debut in 2019 and was part of Japan's East Asian E-1 Championship-winning squad in July 2022.
"I want to develop even further, and won't be satisfied just to have made a move overseas," Iwata said in a statement released by Marinos.
Celtic, managed by former Marinos boss Ange Postecoglou, already have World Cup striker Daizen Maeda and other players from Japan, such as Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate on their roster.
Iwata moved from Oita Trinita to the Yokohama-based club in 2021 and led Marinos to their first J-League title in three years this past season, which ended before the World Cup in Qatar.
