Kyogo Furuhashi won’t line up for Celtic in this week’s derby against Rangers, Ange Postecoglou has confirmed.
Given that Kyogo didn’t go away on Japan duty, there was a lingering hope amongst supporters he might be able to get himself fit enough for the derby after weeks of rehabilitation. He miraculous appeared for the League Cup final after all.
Postecoglou has also kept his cards close to his chest on injury return timelines this season. This has frustrated some daft rival pundits, who felt the Celtic boss was playing mind games with the injury.
However, there’s no conspiracy and no mind games. Postecoglou has confirmed the Japanese forward will remain out of action for weeks more and hasn’t even returned to training yet.
As quoted by The Scottish Mail on Sunday [30/01 print edition, page 142], the Bhoys boss said: “It’s going to be weeks. Kyogo’s got a similar injury to Dave Turnbull.
“Dave did it in the League Cup final and he’s not even training yet, so that gives you a sense of the timeline. He has a hamstring injury very similar to Dave’s. He won’t be back for a number of weeks.”
So there you go. Celtic will have to find an alternative threat against Rangers, with Daizen Maeda also unlikely to feature.
It looks like Giorgos Giakoumakis will again get the chance to impress after two goals in his last three games. He wasn’t effective against Dundee United yesterday but we can only hope it was an off day for him.
The manager could go for Liel Abada through the middle after his poacher’s goal yesterday but I still feel Giakoumakis is the most viable central threat to start the game.
Whoever is given the job will be key to securing a result.
In other news, Video: Feyenoord supporters sing Celtic anthem in an emotional tribute to Wim Jansen.
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