Micah Richards says Celtic have set an example with their recruitment in Asia but believes those bargain prices aren't going to be around much longer.
Guided by Ange Postecoglou's knowledge of the J League from time as Yokohama F. Marinos boss, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi are all firm favourites of the Parkhead faithful after being brought from the Land of the Rising Sun under his reign. Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi arrived in January and will hope to cement similar status, with Yosuke Ideguchi the only one so far to have struggled to meet Hoops standards, now back in Japan after a year in Scotland.
South Korean international Oh has also been signed with Giorgos Giakoumakis' exiting the forward line, and speaking to Five Live, former England international Richards feels it could bring bigger fish to Celtic's cornered pond. He said: "They have got some good players but you have to (shop in other markets), not everyone is going to the same market for players. Bigger clubs might want to delve in these markets but they need a player who is ready-made.
"Japanese players want to learn and Celtic is a massive club to show what you can do. Players like Virgil Van Dijk playing up there and going to the Premier League, so massive credit to them, long may it continue. But the better they perform, the more expensive they will become, so a lot more people will delve into that market now. It's a good thing for them and the players they are recruiting. But it's also a bad thing as now maybe some of the bigger clubs who don't usually go in that market won't go to the likes of Celtic."
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