Shogun Soccer Scouting #12: Hayato Inamura
Boss in the Build-Up but Inexperience a Concern?
Hello! Another quick one for you all. There was big news about Hayato Inamura being heavily linked to a transfer to Celtic FC that appeared in the past week or so. I was rather surprised as although I had been preparing stuff on him, I didn’t think I would have to use it so soon! Of course, this rumor may not actually happen so I’ll still make it fairly generalizable to any potential club. Anyway, let’s get started!
tl;dr (too long; didn’t read):
Big asset in the build-up with his progressive (and/or risky) passing, excellent off-the-ball movement to create space to receive, comfortable carrying the ball under pressure. Concerns over aerial ability and consistency in judgment through his relative inexperience.
Date of Birth: May 6th, 2002
Age: 23 years old
Nationality: Japan
Position: Center Back (Left)
Club: Albirex Niigata (J1)
Squad Number: #3 (2025 season)
Height/Weight: 1.82m // 72 kg (Source: SoccerDigest)
VIDEO NOTE: Albirex Niigata’s HOME kits are orange and blue vertical stripes with white lettering & AWAY kits are white shirt, shorts, socks with blue lettering.
When you watch Inamura play in the build-up phase, the thing you’ll immediately notice is how active he is off-the-ball. He is always on the move before receiving and after releasing the ball himself. Quick back-steps to increase space in his immediate play area, shifting wide and allowing the Full Back to push higher, etc. It’s constant and it makes it very easy for teammates to pass the ball around as he’s always willing to support and is very vocal about his own availability. He also communicates to teammates to drop or move into space that he sees from his vantage point. This makes him a effective conduit for build-up play.
On the ball, Inamura is very patient and doesn’t rush things. He likes to pause on the ball and invite pressure. If the opponent are set off in a block rather than pressing, he is patient to pass it around with his fellow defenders or midfielders to wait for the perfect opening to progress the ball forward.
When opponents are willing to press, Inamura isn’t ruffled as he is very comfortable receiving pressure on the ball. He is very confident in his ability to skip past opponents mostly using body feints and his agility. Inamura is also very adventurous and willing to drive forward deep into the opponent half when the opportunity presents itself.
While the below image is from last season, you can clearly see how much Inamura loves to carry the ball forward. By WyScout’s metrics, he was in the top 4% of Center Backs for progressive carries1.
In terms of passing, Inamura is comfortable playing balls across different ranges on the ground or in the air. His long range passing can be very useful considering how Niigata can create space in-behind by luring opponents forward to press with their build-up. Whether long diagonals or straight down-the-line, Inamura supplies the wingers. He can do this all under pressure from opponents as well. A clear and good pattern you can see across the images below is how Inamura is able to complete passes more compared to what StatsBomb’s Expected Pass model predicted he would2.
A skill to note is how well Inamura is able to disguise his passes and take opponents by surprise to find teammates between-the-lines using the good flexibility in his hips to bend the ball around a different direction from where he is looking. Of course, given the nature of his role, Inamura will play risky passes. There are certainly times where he goes a bit too far in setting ambitious targets and ball trajectories where the reward doesn’t quite balance out the risk causing dangerous short counterattacks.
I would say the biggest red flag with Inamura is his lack of aerial ability. His overall record in percentage % terms is quite poor among Center Backs in the J.League. Also note that while it doesn’t always look like he’s getting good distances on clearances, Inamura does like to use these situations as an opportunity to make a headed pass to teammates instead to keep the ball in play.
I do think there is some hesitancy at times in the air as he hasn’t quite got into the right position or simply outmuscled. While he is quick to recognize dangerous situations and reacts quickly, he makes attempts but doesn’t come out with the ball and lets opponents past him. Given his good anticipation though, there is room for improvement here.
What also doesn’t help is that he doesn’t get tight enough on his marker in the box which allows strikers to slip away from him to get on the end of a cross. At times his positioning is rather suspect and there’s gaps left to be exploited between him and his teammates in the defensive line. In other aspects though he does communicate a lot with his teammates and commands the height of the defensive line. While he is the youngest Center Back in the squad he does take a leadership role in defense.
In situations where opponents play the ball long and behind the defense, Inamura shows good anticipation to cover for his teammates on the Left side. While he is not the fastest Center Back in the league, he is very active in performing sprints throughout the 90 minutes to cover ground and collect loose balls.
Overall despite not having height nor raw strength, Inamura is quite athletic across a variety of physical metrics that allows him to cover a lot of ground and keep up with the frenetic pace of J.League attackers.
Overall, my main take-away from watching him is that he still lacks experience in defensive situations… As seen throughout the footage, Inamura can appear to defend fairly well throughout games but then becomes (partially or fully) culpable for Niigata’s goals conceded. This is probably the part that impacts people’s view of him the most. I don’t think he’s nearly as poor as people might think, especially after my own deep dive into him, but nevertheless it does reflect poorly on him. One could easily dismiss things by saying the quality of his teammates aren’t great (Niigata have been in the bottom half for most of the time since their return to J1 a few years ago) but I think an honest assessment shouldn’t shy away from this fact.
Looking at his data overall, it aligns with what has been demonstrated throughout this report so far. A stand-out ability to progress the ball forward paired with fairly low-to-middling defensive stats when compared to fellow Center Backs in the league.
Summary
Hayato Inamura has rose in prominence in little over a year. Although it’s been just over 6 months into his professional career, he did play quite a bit in the 2024 season as a “designated special player” while still a student athlete at Toyo University. In addition to the league, he played every minute as a key part of Niigata’s League Cup campaign last year where they reached (but lost) the final.
As shown throughout this report, Inamura is a player that is extremely well-suited to teams that like to build-up from the back due to his understanding of space, comfort with the ball, and passing acumen. In regards to his defending, the fundamental tools are there (especially his alertness and anticipation) but his inexperience has been the obstacle to consistent and steady performances.
To my knowledge, despite the return of Kieran Tierney to the club, Celtic are looking for more depth at Left Back (among other positions). This is a position that Inamura had played in his (very) younger days before being converted and cementing his place as a Left-sided Center Back during his days at Maebashi Ikuei High School (a regular team in the famous All Japan High School Soccer tournament and the alma mater of many past and current Japanese professional footballers). I don’t know how often he played there at Toyo University but he almost never played there for Albirex Niigata (aside from what I can vaguely recall, a short spell in the 2nd Half vs. Consadole Sapporo in 2024). All of the footage I reviewed for this report is from his time at Center Back. I imagine he could play Left Back early on after his arrival to get used to Scottish football.
If this transfer indeed transpires, this is a very different J.League signing for Celtic compared to the past. The likes of Daizen Maeda, Kyogo, Reo Hatate all came from top J.League teams and had international experience through the Japan/Japan Youth National Teams. Hayato Inamura has shown promise but his signing is one of potential and (hopefully) quick growth rather than of a fairly established J.League star moving to Europe. If it were me, I would’ve waited until at least the end of the season to see improvements. However, a Left Footed Center Back with his passing profile can be difficult to find so I can also understand trying to “get in early”!
In years past, usually a player like Inamura coming into a lower/mid-table J.League team as a college graduate would first step up to a bigger J.League team and preferably get continental experience (ACL, ACL2). From there he would maybe make the EAFF squad (depending on the year), and only then make the step to Europe at around the age of 25~27 to, let’s say, Belgium/Championship/Eredivisie. It says a lot about the current transfer market (along with amount of scouting and confidence European clubs have in the J.League) that this pathway is being circumvented by earlier leaps. This should be a warning sign for J.League clubs at either end of the table.
Whether he does indeed go to Celtic or not, prospective clubs will be hoping he can grow quickly through experience, careful coaching, and guidance from more senior teammates as soon as he bursts through the front door at a new club.
There’s certainly a good player here but the risks are quite apparent.
Thanks for reading!
Resources, Limitations, etc.
Video analysis: DaVinci Resolve 18
Tactical diagrams: Tacticalista
Time period: 2025 J1 Season (7 games)
Footage: Broadcast footage, no tactical camera
Stats: Hudl/StatsBomb, FBref, Transfermarkt, WyScout, FotMob
Player radars: Ben Griffis
In fact, Inamura is the Center Back that has “overperformed” the most in the 2024 J.League season compared to StatsBomb passing model’s expectations, 59% to 48%.