Kyogo Furuhashi’s call to leave Celtic dominated the headlines during the January transfer window.
Brendan Rodgers’ side had just booked their ticket into the knockout stages of the Champions League after that win over Young Boys during the league phase.
It proved to be Kyogo’s last game for Celtic, as days later, he would leave Glasgow and secure a £10 million transfer to then French relegation battlers, Rennes.
The man in Celtic’s dugout was pretty honest about Kyogo’s sudden exit, and how he had expressed, months beforehand, that he wanted to start a new chapter in his footballing life.
Bearing all of this in mind, and the fact that the champions-elect didn’t bring in a new striker, and they were still in Europe at the time, it didn’t sit well with the fans.
But, in truth, it worked a treat because, not only did Celtic secure a healthy transfer fee for the 30-year-old, but it transformed Daizen Maeda’s game, and now he is heading towards winning Player of the Year.
Brendan Rodgers praised for getting Kyogo Furuhashi ‘out of the door’ at Celtic
Rodgers has spoken about the winter transfer window recently, and not being able to get in that striker, but understanding that the right man had to come in, rather than fill the blank space left by Kyogo for the sake of it.
Peter Grant told Go Radio that he has ‘a bit of sympathy’ for the Celtic manager because of how difficult it is to bring in strikers anyway, never mind midway through a campaign.
The Bhoys legend didn’t hold back and added that Celtic made the right call to get Kyogo ‘out of the door’, and how he is now finding himself warming the bench.
“A bit of sympathy in the January window, because I think strikers are so, so difficult for anybody to get in a window like that,” said Grant.
“They are either doing well enough at the club Celtic are interested in them. The other club, unless you offer them crazy money, are not going to sell in that window. It is a bad window.
“Celtic couldn’t knock the money back for Kyogo. He is sitting on the bench. I think he has played ten minutes in all the time he has been away, so he has made that decison.
“I am listening to Brendan’s interview earlier on, as soon as players make it aware that they don’t want to be there, you have got to get them out the door. If you are getting £10 million for somebody who doesn’t want to be there, then you have to let them go.”
Kyogo’s stats for Rennes
There isn’t much to shout about, and there is some bad luck involved, even though some of the Celtic Park faithful won’t sympathise, and that’s the fact that Rennes sacked the man who brought Kyogo in days after he arrived.
With Habib Beye now in the dugout, he hasn’t pulled any punches, and never mind not handing any starts to the Japan forward, he is hardly even playing him.
So, when looking at Kyogo’s stats at Rennes, it’s more about how little he has played, rather than the fact that he is yet to score.
| Kyogo’s games at Rennes | Starts | Come on as sub | Unused sub | Total minutes |
| 6 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 120 |
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