Kyogo Furuhashi has had an incredible season for Celtic this season. Finishing as the SPFL’s top goalscorer, the Japanese striker was one of the deadliest players in front of goal in Scotland this season.
But it’s not just his goalscoring ability that defenders found difficult to deal with. It was also his overall play. And according to Livingston defender, Jack Fitzwater, the Celtic frontman also liked to deploy the dark arts of the game
Fitzwater said [The Herald], “The most annoying player I came up against was Kyogo, he’s sharp and he’s actually quite dirty as a player off the ball.
“There are a lot of tough opponents I’ve come up against up here but I would say Kyogo and Ryan Kent, the season they [Rangers] won the league.”
“Connor Goldson would hit a diagonal over my head and it would be hard for Nicky Devlin to track Kent’s runs in behind.
“On his day, he was literally unplayable; speed, power. I would say those two are the hardest I’ve faced.
“It’s full of great players up here and the league is only getting better as well.
“You can see the increase in quality each season and that season there was very hard.”
Out of everything I’ve ever read about Kyogo, I’ve never heard him be described as a dirty player. I’ve also never seen anything that the Japanese striker has done on the pitch that would be described as such either.
Kyogo has always come across as being respectful to his opponents. Even when the opposition players are injured, the Japanese forward is always the first one to make sure they are ok.
I can only speculate that what Fitzwater is referring to is how Kyogo likes to stray off into the offside position to put pressure on defenders when Celtic are attacking. But I would hardly say that’s ‘dirty’.
Kyogo is a winner. Ever since he came to Celtic he has helped the club continue the incredible run of success we have seen over the years. And if being a ‘dirty’ player helps to continue that success, I say let’s have more of it!
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