Former FC Gifu striker Ryan de Vries was unsurprised by Celtic star Kyogo and his blistering goal-scoring form.
Simply because he’d seen it all before.
De Vries, a New Zealander, has had a nomadic footballing journey. In recent years, he’s taken the unorthodox route of going from J2 football in Japan to Sligo Rovers, in Ireland.
That’s after years of making it through New Zealand’s league system. But it was his time in Japan that left the biggest impact on his career. Playing alongside Celtic sensation Kyogo, he says, left quite a mark.
Speaking to The Times, de Vries said of Kyogo:
“The first time I saw him in pre-season, I told my translator, ‘this kid won’t be with us for long.
“For his age, he was playing as if he’d got 10 or 15 years under his belt already. You could see he had something special and it was just so easy to play with him because even though we had the language barrier, on the field it didn’t matter.
“I watched his hat-trick on his first [league] start for Celtic against Dundee. A lot of fans would have been over the moon, but for me it was normal to see Kyogo do things like that.”
Nobody is expecting constant hat-tricks, but star man Kyogo has got off to blistering Celtic start
It’s hard to remember another player being so instantly beloved as Kyogo Furuhashi. Moussa Dembelé is a shout, but it was really after his Glasgow Derby heroics that the love-in started. The pace of Kyogo’s ascent has probably been even more rapid.
You can see it at matches. Swathes of Japanese flags across the crowds, fans singing his name, and the rapturous applause he gets when he’s announced in the starting XI.
While he’s received his fair share of tough tackles, the Japan international has been largely unaffected by opposition tactics. His biggest test yet is negotiating a hostile Ibrox atmosphere on Sunday.
There’s real hope and optimism for this weekend’s derby. Celtic are in the ascendence, and being led by a striker with frightening pace and movement. You’d expect Kyogo to cause problems for a Rangers defence that conceded twice to Ross County.
If Kyogo scores, we’ll of course be delighted. But as far as his former teammates are concerned, it’d be nothing out of the ordinary.
Read more: International redemption for resurgent Celt
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
