Of all the Celtic players to return to action, Kyogo Furuhashi 's is the most eagerly anticipated.
Callum McGregor's importance to the team is second to none, of course, but the club could do with a fresh injection of the excitement Kyogo's early form brought in abundance.
It's been a difficult few weeks the Parkhead side, who have now lost three of their opening seven Premiership fixtures and next face a considerable Europa League test against Bayer Leverkusen.
That precedes a trip to Aberdeen on Sunday before we head into another international break.
Kyogo has been sidelined since early September after picking up a knee injury representing his country last time out.
But he's since returned to training and could play some part before domestic football takes a backseat for a little while.
Celtic fans would likely feel much calmer about him returning to action after the World Cup qualifiers if he were stationed at Lennoxtown for the duration of the break.
Reports from Asia indicated the 26-year-old had not been called up by Japan for their upcoming matches against Saudi Arabia and Australia.
And a press release showing the full list of players selected by boss Hajime Moriyasu appeared to confirm his absence.
But a degree of uncertainty was cast on the situation at Ange Postecoglou 's Wednesday press conference.
The manager discussed the fitness of Kyogo, McGregor and new signing Giorgos Giakoumakis, revealing he hoped all three will get minutes over the next two matches.
But he then said Kyogo had been selected for international duty.
"There's zero possibility all three will start (against Leverkusen)," Postecoglou said.
"Is there a possibility they'll get some game-time? Yes, there is.
"But I just want to be careful. They've trained today, we've just got to make sure and see how they pull up, see how they feel.
"I'll have a chat with them.
"I'm keen to get them some game-time before the break. Obviously, Cal's going away with the Scotland team and Kyogo's been selected in the Japanese team, so we need to assess where they're at.
"Getting them some game-time makes sense."
It could simply be that the manager misspoke and Kyogo will remain at Lennoxtown to continue his push back to full fitness, or perhaps Postecoglou knows something the rest of us don't just yet.
