Celtic have confirmed that the club will travel to Japan and South Korea for a pre-season tour of Asia.

The Parkhead side, who have seven players from the region within their ranks, will play in the Far East this summer.

Ange Postecoglou has brought a host of talent from the J1 League during his time at Parkhead so far. Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi, Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata have all joined over the last 18 months.

The Australian also signed South Korea international Oh Hyeon-gyu during the January transfer window.

Celtic confirmed the news on social media with a host of videos of players such as Jota and Matt O'Riley learning Japanese.

 

Speaking to the club's official website after the news was made official, Postecoglou said: "We are really looking forward to the summer tour to Japan, and we’re sure it will be hugely successful for the club and excellent preparation for next season.

"Clearly, Celtic has a real, long-standing connection with Japan, through previous visits and players such as Shunsuke Nakamura and, of course, now through our current squad members, so it will be great to visit and really bring this relationship to life.

"As we saw from our brilliant visit to Australia last year, the appetite for Celtic globally is huge and it is right that we maximise these great opportunities and show the world all that is great about our club.

"We wanted to pay respect to Japanese football so we are delighted to be engaging with the J-League and its clubs.   

"Japanese football is on a real upward trajectory at the moment, so we know we will be facing real tests, something which will be great for the team as we go into the challenges of next season.”

The Scottish champions' opponents have still to be confirmed for the tour, as well as dates and venues.

Following an initial European training camp, Celtic will take part in a week-long visit to Japan, with details to be officially announced in the coming days. 

Celtic has previously visited Japan in 2006 while Shunsuke Nakamura was at the club and they played against Yokohama F Marinos, who Postecoglou managed before coming to Glasgow.