Shocked Hiromi Hara admits he was dumbfounded by the furore that surrounded Kyogo ‘s winner against Hearts and can’t believe VAR isn’t in Scottish football.
It comes with talks to continue next year over bringing the game-changing instant replay system to Scottish football.
Kyogo netted a recent winner against Hearts in a goal that was controversial because Hearts insisted he was offside, with former Rangers striker Kris Boyd left miffed by the call.
And Hara, who is a former player and manager of Japan and FC Tokyo before becoming J League president, admitted he was amazed the Scottish Premiership was operating without VAR.
He said: “I watched Kyogo’s goal for Celtic and I couldn’t believe that his league in Scotland does not yet have VAR.
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“There are far less developed leagues across Europe that have the VAR system in place, so that was a big surprise to me that Scotland doesn’t have it yet.
“Certainly, a league with a club as big as Celtic should have it.
“Thankfully, the debate that followed this goal wouldn’t happen here in Japan because we have the system in place and it works well.
“But the goal was another example of how well Kyogo has done over there.”
The Japanese ace is currently injured and is a huge loss for Ange Postecoglou, who is desperate for the forward to return soon.
He missed out against Ross County on Wednesday but Postecoglou has refused to rule him out for Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final with Hibs.