Kyogo Furuhashi left Celtic for Rennes in the January transfer window.
The former Celtic striker’s departure was much maligned by the fans after Kyogo made his last appearance at Celtic Park in the Hoops’ win over Young Boys in the Champions League.
Since Kyogo left Celtic, Brendan Rodgers’ side’s relentless scoring streak has not diminished with the Bhoys scoring 15 goals in five games since the Japanese striker’s departure.
With just two appearances for Rennes since Kyogo’s big £10m move, the Hoops icon has suffered an injury setback that is all too familiar to the Celtic fans.
Kyogo’s post-Celtic career at Rennes has a familiar story to it
Kyogo’s difficult start to his Rennes career continued yesterday after the Ligue 1 side suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Lille.
The Japan star suffered a setback just minutes into his second substitute appearance for Rennes after needing to be taken off to have his infamous shoulder looked at after appearing to injure it again as boss Habib Beye clears up what happened to the former Celtic man.
Habib Beye told The Herald, “Red cards, injuries, they don’t help but I don’t want to use them as an excuse.
“Kyogo Furuhashi’s shoulder injury forces us to change system and, at that moment, we have a highlight, we had a boost of energy.
“I think our choices in the final third were not always the right ones, we lacked precision and offensive weight to put them under pressure.
“The problem is that, at one point, we played with nine, with the temporary exit of Kyogo Furuhashi.
“When you play with 10 against a team like Lille it’s difficult, then with nine… But I liked the state of mind of my players.
“We had the will to want to win the match with our intentions, and with what we put in place. We were dominated but the will was there.”
How Kyogo has fared at Rennes since leaving Celtic
Kyogo made his Rennes debut almost immediately after leaving Celtic in a 17-minute cameo in the 1-0 win over Strasbourg.
Since then the Japanese winger was out in the cold after Kyogo was an unused Rennes sub in the 2-0 away win at Saint-Etienne.
And now in his third game at his new club, the Japanese striker has suffered a recurrence of the shoulder injury that plagued him at Celtic.
Overall, Kyogo has played just 83 minutes of football at Rennes with just one shot on goal. No doubt the former Celtic icon will break his scoring duck at the French club but it must feel that, right now, the 30-year-old’s career has taken two steps back since leaving Parkhead three weeks ago.
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