There was a time not so long ago, when West Ham United target Reo Hatate went toe-to-toe with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. And, for a while at least, the Celtic playmaker was the best midfielder on the Parkhead pitch.
Hatate and Celtic ran the show for much of the first-half during that 2022 meeting in Glasgow.
Of course, as is their usual European-stage M.O., Real Madrid turned on the style after the break. The elite individual quality of Vinicius Jr, Eden Hazard and the aforementioned Modric did the damage; star power emerging victorious over the collective.
See every player linked with West Ham! Who stands out MOST to you? 🤔
Let us know below 👇
But, still, a man snapped up for a bargain £1.4 million from Kawasaki Frontale proved himself capable – at least for 45 minutes – of staring into the gaze of the world’s very best.
Unfortunately for Celtic – and potentially West Ham United too, as Hammers News confirm that Hatate is on Nils Koppen’s summer wishlist – those days are long ago now.
A lot can change in four years’ worth of football, after all.
West Ham United are targeting Celtic’s Reo Hatate at the wrong time
Koppen left Rangers with a lot of credit in the bank a year ago, even if Celtic’s blue-clad rivals continue to fall short in their bid to re-claim a title last secured by Steven Gerrard. West Ham’s new Director of Player Recruitment watched Rangers come up against Hatate on a number of occasions.
That the 28-year-old is a West Ham target, though, may come as a surprise to many in Scotland’s second city.
The version of Hatate Koppen saw first-hand, after all, is older, slower, and far less influential than the one who briefly looked Modric’s equal at Parkhead.
“Firstly, on his day, Hatate is hands down the best midfielder in Scotland,” explains Paddy Sinat, a Celtic reporter for Hammers News’ sister site 67 Hail Hail. “But he was struggling even before last season.
Hatate started only 19 Scottish Premiership matches in 2025/26, scoring twice and assisting twice.
If he was already starting to show signs of rust in 2024/25 – when he managed 24 starts, nine goals and four assists – well, this feels like an odd time for West Ham to make a move.
“When [in 2023, Brendan] Rodgers returned to Celtic, he wanted to leave,” Sinat adds. “But he was convinced to stay and did reasonably well. Celtic turned down £10m for him in August 2024 but he’s never really been the same player from his first two seasons at Celtic.
“So his drop in form is not new.
“Last season saw plenty of managerial change and Hatate struggled to cement his place. His confidence is clearly low and [Martin] O’Neill ended up using him sparingly for the title run-in as his head wasn’t in it.
“The biggest hint his Celtic career was over was when he was left out of the Scottish Cup final squad against Dunfermline. Looks like he’s definitely away, just don’t know where to. He won’t get a team in the Premier League now, that’s for sure!
“If he moved to England after his second season, I reckon he would have lit it up. Now, I think he would struggle.”
Hammers should heed Birmingham City’s Kyogo Furuhashi warning
The less said about Michel-Ange Balikwisha, the injury-hit, £4.5 million Celtic flop who West Ham also have an interest in, the better. If Hatate would be an odd move, bringing Balikwisha south of the border would have some wondering if Koppen had left his marbles in Glasgow.
At 28, there is still time for Hatate to rediscover the balletic brilliance of a man praised by the legendary Andres Iniesta while together in Japan. One who, in his first two years at Celtic, swaggered and sauntered around the pitch like the Barcelona icon reborn in green and white.
How would YOU feel if Nuno gave a fresh start to these Hammers flops? 🧐
Yet, if they were to take a chance on Hatate in big 2026, West Ham cannot say the warning signs weren’t there. Similarities may be drawn with a Birmingham City outfit who spent £10 million on Kyogo Furuhashi a year ago. A once-prolific goalscorer who some argued was Celtic’s best forward since the great Henrik Larsson, Kyogo’s influence had already started to wane before he crossed Hadrian’s Wall.
One goal in 28 Championship appearances was certainly not what Birmingham had in mind when they signed a striker who once scored 34 times in a single season at Celtic. That season, funnily enough, being the same 2022/23 campaign in which Hatate went eyeball-to-eyeball with Luka Modric and came out with his reputation enhanced.
“I think that Reo has done exceptionally well at the football club since he arrived,” O’Neill told the Celtic the Daily Record only a couple of days ago. “People have said he might even have been the best player in Scotland two or three years ago.
“[Now], I think myself that he’s probably looking to maybe see if there’s new pastures.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
