Ange Postecoglou: Taylor 'available' for Scotland as Celtic boss defends Japan duo Hatate & Kyogo
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Greg Taylor, Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi were all left out their international squads
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou says Greg Taylor is "available" despite his omission from the Scotland squad.
The left-back was left out Steve Clarke's selection for this month's Euro 2024 qualifiers, with the Scotland head coach citing there were "one or two little issues" around his absence.
Postecoglou also defended "determined" duo Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate, who both failed to make Japan's latest international squad.
"It's disappointing for them," he said.
"It's the nature of international football. It comes down to the national team manager's decision."
Taylor missed Celtic's most recent league encounter against Heart of Midlothian, but the 25-year-old returned for their Scottish Cup meeting three days later, playing the entire 90 minutes at Tynecastle last weekend.
Clarke was reluctant to go into detail about the left-back's exclusion, stating it is a "Celtic matter", but Postecoglou said "it is up to the manager whether to call them up or leave them for rehab purposes".
"Like all the international players, we provide all the relevant information to the national teams," the Celtic boss said. "From our perspective, Greg is available and will play tomorrow."
Meanwhile, Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu has drawn criticism for his comments in relation to Kyogo and Hatate's absence from his squad.
Even though Celtic team-mate Daizen Maeda has retained his place, Moriyasu was quoted as saying "the level of the league" is one of the factors in his decision-making.
"It's one person's opinion and I'm not really sure we can make too many far-reaching conclusions," Postecoglou said. "I don't think the selection of individual footballers comes down to the level of the league.
"There have been plenty of players who have left us or left this league and gone on to some of the biggest leagues in the world and performed really well.
"Plenty of footballers in Scotland have done extremely well at international level and plenty of players who have come from the top five leagues have struggled here, so one man's opinion doesn't mean it's wrong, but it doesn't mean it's the case either."
Striker Kyogo, who has netted 26 times this season, and midfielder Hatate, who has eight goals and nine assists, were also excluded from the Japan squad that reached the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and Postecoglou was keen to hail the pair's reaction to that setback.
"There wouldn't be many greater disappointments than missing selection for a World Cup," the Celtic boss added. "If you look at the way the two lads have responded to that, they are playing football better than ever.
"They are both very determined and they are going to get to the top of the game one way or another. Whatever challenges they have in front of them, they will overcome. My role within that is to help them do that."
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