Shin Yamada has been linked with a return to the J.League as his second loan spell away from Celtic struggles to get going.

The Japanese striker is currently at OH Leuven, where six league appearances have produced no goals or assists. Only two of those outings have been starts.

It follows a difficult first season in Glasgow, with Yamada failing to score a competitive goal before heading to Germany on loan.

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A report from Football Tribe Japan has now raised the possibility of a return to his homeland, although no interested club has been named.

Yamada has now had opportunities in Scotland, Germany and Belgium without establishing himself as a regular scorer.

There was some encouragement towards the end of last season, when he struck three times for Preußen Münster in Bundesliga 2. It gave him something to build on after a frustrating opening to that loan.

His subsequent move to Leuven offered another chance at regular football. So far, it has brought another spell spent largely outside the starting XI.

His scoring record before Celtic also needs the proper context.

The four goals in 22 league appearances came during the 2025 campaign before he moved to Glasgow, so fans were already fearing that he wasn’t going to hit the same hights that the last two strikers signed from Japan did.

Talk of a return home surfaced during the summer, before he eventually went to Belgium instead.

It has now resurfaced with little sign that his position has improved. A permanent departure would hardly be a surprise, but an interested club still has to emerge before Yamada can begin drawing a line under his Celtic spell.