Kyogo Furuhashi has been making some interesting headlines of late as the Celtic star aims to get back to his best form.
The Japan international is already a Celtic legend, but by his high standards, his goalscoring levels have dropped a level under Brendan Rodgers compared to Ange Postecoglou.
Kyogo has netted ten Premiership goals this term after striking 11 in the league when Rodgers returned – and he also netted 23 in Postecoglou’s final season.
Celtic’s striker situation has been an interesting one because, after Adam Idah’s strong loan spell last season, the club signed him up for good this summer, but he also hasn’t managed to hit those same heights.
Throughout the campaign, Rodgers has spoken about wanting to strengthen his squad and also add a third striker to the ranks.
But before Celtic could take on Dundee United over a week ago, some interesting transfer news emerged that shocked many, all whilst Kyogo was sitting on the bench at Parkhead.
Michael Stewart slams ‘ridiculous’ claim that Kyogo Furuhashi is to leave Celtic for the MLS
Someone, somewhere has seriously got the wrong end of the stick because the MLS’s official website – and you can still tell by their URL – claimed that Kyogo was heading to Atlanta United.
‘Atlanta-United-acquire-dp-striker-Kyogo-Furuhashi-from-Celtic-FC’ – that is the URL you can still read from the now-deleted page.
Michael Stewart called all of this ‘ridiculous’ and what those behind the scenes in the MLS were thinking, as he told Premier Sports.
Darrell Currie stated: “There are all sorts of speculation about Celtic players, at the moment. Coming and going. There has been a bit of newspaper talk, actually the MLS contact with Kyogo, which then the MLS had to apologise for.”
Stewart interrupted: “How ridiculous was that?” Before Currie added: “They named the wrong person. That led to speculation. Brendan Rodgers spoke about that. Celtic can’t afford to let Kyogo go, clearly.”
Stewart added: “There is no that the MLS got the wrong person. They had his picture. They spoke about him playing for Celtic and they named him ‘Kyogo Furuhashi’. What I would love to know is, what was actually going on behind the scenes? What has clearly happened here is that they have released a story, when they shouldn’t have because there wasn’t a deal that was done. But what was actually lurking in the background?”
What Brendan Rodgers said about Kyogo’s future at Celtic
Given that Celtic are heading towards the knockout stages of the Champions League, it would be daft for the club to let anyone go that is of quality and importance.
Yes, Kyogo has had much better seasons, but he is still important to the cause and Rodgers’ plans going forward.
That’s why the Celtic boss brushed off and shut down any talk about Kyogo’s future, including how he gets to see him on a daily basis.
“I can see him on a daily basis, it’s people will always look into something,” said Rodgers. “You know, he didn’t celebrate enough where he didn’t do this, or he didn’t do that. So I see him every day.
“I see his work, I see his intensity and maybe he scores so much that he doesn’t really have to celebrate madly all the time or maybe he was too cold.
“But no, he’s just the same guy but I’m not scared of the speculation and gossip. So there’ll always be wee bits and pieces around him, but he’s fine and will travel tomorrow.”
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