Celtic ‘watch’ Asian Champions League final striker as Brendan Rodgers seeks Kyogo replacement

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Celtic have been searching for Kyogo Furuhashi’s replacement ever since the Japanese talisman left Parkhead in January.

Kyogo’s move from Celtic to Rennes has been a disaster for the player but, thankfully for Celtic, Daizen Maeda stepped into his boots and picked up where his former teammate left off.

Maeda ensured that Celtic’s bid for the title remained on course with 16 Scottish Premiership goals and 10 assists last season.

But now, it appears that Brendan Rodgers is eyeing the Japanese market once again as the Celtic manager looks to bring in reinforcements to his front line by bringing in a permanent replacement for Kyogo.

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Celtic ‘poised’ to make a move for £1.5m Japanese striker Shin Yamada

Celtic’s success in the Japanese market over the last four years has been pretty remarkable. Yes, there have been failures too but Kyogo, Maeda and Reo Hatate have been crucial in keeping the Parkhead club dominant over Rangers.

And it appears that another Japanese striker is catching the eye of the Celtic manager.

The Scottish Sun report that £1.5m Kawasaki Frontale forward Shin Yamada is attracting the attention of the Parkhead club this summer.

Yamada reached the Asian Champions League final last season with Frontale and made the assist for the winning extra-time goal in the 3-2 quarter-final win against Al-Saad.

Unfortunately for Yamada, Al-Ahli proved too strong for Frontale after the Saudis beat the Japanese side 2-0 in the final.

Shin Yamada’s scoring record as Celtic circle Kawasaki Frontale striker

At 25, Yamada only started playing professionally in 2022 after Frontale snapped him up from Toin University of Yokohama.

Since then he has won the J League Cup and the Japanese Super Cup and, of course, came close to Champions League glory last season.

Here is how Yamada’s scoring stats add up:

Yamada had a disappointing 2024/25 season with just six goals and three assists in 31 games. However, the 25-year-old striker was lethal the previous season with 20 and five assists, winning the J League Cup.

But it appears his captain’s performance in the 5-4 away win to Tokyo Verdy last season where he scored a hat-trick and provided an assist may have been the match that caught the eye of the Celtic scouts.