Land a Chinese or Japanese player and it all comes tumbling out: thousands of this, millions of that, billions of the other. The buzz words are developing markets, global recognition, brand development and enormous television audiences. Did you know that twice as many people watch every Chinese international fixture as actually exist on the planet?

It wasn’t Celtic who made any grandiose claims about what Zheng Zhi might be worth for them after his transfer was completed last week, but as ever with Asian signings, coverage of the deal was more concerned with nationality than ability. There was the impression that a quarter of the world’s population will anxiously hold its breath whenever Zheng is tackled by some loutish SPL opponent.

At first it sounded substantial to learn that he was the captain of China, if it wasn’t for the fact that those hundreds of millions watching on television must be heartily sick of them. They were knocked out of the World Cup 15 months ago having finished bottom of a group with Australia, Qatar and Iraq. The latest world rankings have them at 107, which is one place below Antigua and Barbuda.

Strip away the international context and what is left is a 29-year-old mid-fielder whose only experience of British -- or even European -- football is a couple of years with Charlton Athletic. There is no harm in Celtic taking a speculative punt on Zheng given that he was a free agent. But it isn’t fair on him to create the impression he is a football figure of global importance when his club career until now has been quite modest.

Scottish football went down this road before when Dundee signed Fan Zhiyi in 2001. He was the Chinese captain at the time, too. Much was said about Beijing being in thrall to events at Dens Park and the club’s website suddenly receiving 300,000 hits. Supposedly you couldn’t walk down a Chinese street without bumping into a local desperate to spend their money on Dundee merchandise. It was all nonsense. A couple of years later Dundee went into administration. Even so, the idea persists that Asian players are signed because of what they can do to a balance sheet rather than an opponent.

Where it ought to matter most, on the pitch, they have often struggled to adapt to British football. There have been more failures than successes, which reflects the fact that the general standard of Asian international football isn’t much to write home about. Every major British club hopes to find the next Shunsuke Nakamura or Park Ji-Sung but few have shown the quality, character and consistency of those two. Du Wei swept in and out of Parkhead in 2005 and Celtic’s hopes that Koki Mizuno would turn out to be another Nakamura have dwindled.

“Tapping in” to the Asian market remains an elusive business. Back in 2004, Rangers attempted to establish roots in China by entering a commercial agreement with the Chinese Super League side Shenzhen Jianlibao. The Ibrox chairman at the time, John McClelland, talked of the club’s intention to build on the arrangement by signing a Chinese player. It never happened. Within a couple of years the deal with Shenzhen was ditched as Rangers decided to concentrate once again on North America, a proven, established market for them. They accepted that China’s huge population didn’t equate to people with any money to spend on red, white and blue football strips.

Celtic have been more determined to milk the Far East cash cow and following Du, Nakamura, Mizuno and Zheng they will bring Ki Sung-yong to Glasgow 


in January. He is South Korean (population a piddling 48 million compared to China’s 1.4 billion) and already an international player at the age of 20. Those credentials are immediately more impressive than those of Zheng. South Korea are a more advanced international force having already qualified for the 2010 World Cup (their seventh in a row). Also, Tony Mowbray is understood to have committed to a £2.1m fee to sign him and the Celtic manager has already used one of his favourite phrases -- “He has what I call ‘soft’ feet” -- to describe Ki’s feel for a football.

To listen to Mowbray discuss Ki the other day there wasn’t much doubt that he was genuinely enthused about what this unknown young fella will bring to the centre of the Celtic midfield. It was reassuring to hear him because there is cynicism when clubs go for Asian players. They are perceived as “boardroom” rather than “manager” signings -- brought because of the impact they might have in the marketing department rather than the football arena. In Celtic’s case, that means a suspicion that such signings are driven as much by chief executive Peter Lawwell as they are by the manager.

That may be a disservice to Lawwell and it certainly is to Mowbray, although if Ki turns out to be as effective as Nakamura, neither of them will mind if the credit is shared. Never mind how many will or won’t watch them on television back in the Far East: if Zheng and Ki become regulars in the second half of this season there will be a whole new look and feel to Mowbray’s Celtic. Forget brands and shirt sales: for 60,000 inside Parkhead the only statistics that matter are how many goals and points they might add.