Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi has been struggling with a shoulder problem during this pre-season period, which is why he didn’t feature from the start against Yokohama F.Marinos on Wednesday.
Daizen Maeda was given the nod to get at his old club and duly delivered with a superb first-half hat-trick. Kyogo did come into the match in the second half but is clearly a step behind in terms of match fitness and readiness.
He was notably not seen in many training ground images from Portugal and didn’t feature in either of the closed-door matches against Portimonense, leaving fans wondering about his status.
Manager Brendan Rodgers said [Daily Record]: “Kyogo has obviously been brilliant for Celtic. But he’s still working his way to fitness. He’s had a bit of an issue with his shoulder, hence the reason he only came on (against Yokohama). But I thought Daizen was outstanding.”
Kyogo has had shoulder problems on a few occasions since arriving at Celtic and caution has been taken before to ensure he does not suffer an injury that keeps him out for a length of time.
It’s only right that the staff manage him through this period so that he is fit and ready when it counts most, against Ross County on the opening day of the Scottish Premiership season in a couple of weeks’ time.
Celtic do have Maeda available as a central option, as well as South Korean international Hyeongyu Oh, should Kyogo be unavailable at any point moving forward.
The 23 minutes he got off the bench on Wednesday will serve him well and, clearly, the shoulder problem is not serious enough to keep him out of training and matches moving forward, he’s just playing catch-up a little.
Fingers crossed he gets more minutes under his belt against Gamba Osaka, building towards a peak over the next fortnight. He’s against going to be so crucial to the Bhoys’ ambitions over the coming season.
In other news, Celtic’s total summer spend so far as Bhoys enter new phase of transfer window.
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