There was a lot of noise around Kyogo Furuhashi leaving Celtic during the winter transfer window.
From the timing of his departure to the club Kyogo was joining, it left the Celtic Park faithful surprised and debate just grew further when he wasn’t replaced.
Fast forward to the present and Kyogo is now struggling at Rennes, with only one start to his name and that came on his debut.
It doesn’t help that the man who signed the Japan international – Jorge Sampaoli – was sacked days into Kyogo moving to France.
Some expected Celtic to struggle for goals post-Kyogo, but it has been far from the case because Daizen Maeda has gone to another level and the Treble is on.
Despite that, Celtic will still look for that striker in the summer, but Kyogo coming back to the club has been ruled out.
Kyogo Furuhashi’s return to Celtic shut down
There is no doubt that Kyogo is a Celtic legend and his 85 goals, including those strikes against Rangers, will be remembered for a very long time.
But given his struggles, it was suggested on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard that Rennes could look to sell their player, months after he joined them.
However, Marvin Bartley was keen to shut all of that down, as he also added that it would be ‘really, really surprising’ if Kyogo even returned to Celtic colours again.
“No, what makes you think he will be up for sale in the summer,” asked Bartley.
The Celtic fan responded: “Well, he hasn’t played 90 minutes under the current Rennes manager (Habib Beye). He’s out of favour. People are in front of him. What are the chances of him ever getting a game?”
Bartley added: “I think, the way the team are playing now, they are struggling a bit, aren’t they? So, the manager might be trying to stay in games. He might be able to get his own players in next season and sees Kyogo as a key part of that.
“I get what you are saying. I don’t think he will be up for sale. I also don’t think there will be any chance of Celtic bringing him back, either. He had a long time at Celtic, where he did really, really well.
“He spoke about loving the club and the fans definitely loved him. He scored some vital goals. He scored a lot of goals as well.
“But I think it’s one of those things where, both club and player have gone their separate ways now. It would be really, really surprising if we were ever to see him again in a Celtic shirt.”
Kyogo’s numbers at Rennes since leaving Celtic
It was all going rosy for Kyogo at Celtic, he was still scoring goals, starting on a regular basis and heading towards more trophies.
The Ange Postecoglou signing had ten Premiership goals to his name, and since joining Rennes, he has played a total of 92 minutes.
| Competition | Apps | Goals | Assists | Minutes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Premiership | 22 | 10 | 3 | 1.332′ |
 | UEFA Champions League | 7 | 1 | – | 468′ |
 | Ligue 1 | 3 | – | – | 92′ |
 | League Cup | 2 | 1 | – | 145′ |
 | SFA Cup | 1 | – | 1 | 83′ |
| Total 24/25: | 35 | 12 | 4 | 2.120′ | |
It’s going to be interesting to see how everything pans out for the player because every Celtic fan will still want him to do well given what he produced during his time at the club.
Perhaps Rennes fans won’t see the best of Kyogo until next season, but until now, it has been a tough watch.
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