Kyogo Furuhashi's departure from Celtic to French Ligue 1 club Rennes leaves a significant void for the Scottish champions. The Japan international striker had become a fan favorite, known for his goalscoring prowess, intelligent movement, and infectious personality. Fans and analysts grapple with the impact of his departure and the challenge of finding a worthy replacement.
It is not a title Celtic fans have thrown around too often in the past 20 years, but it is one many have been happy to bestow on Kyogo Furuhashi – the best since Henrik Larsson. It is unlikely any striker in green and white will ever reach the levels of adulation the Swede continues to enjoy to this day. But Kyogo, with his goals, game intelligence and infectious personality, had carved out a special place in the hearts of the Parkhead faithful.
With the Japan forward poised to complete a sudden move to Rennes in France's Ligue 1, what impact has he had? How might Celtic replace him? And what do the fans think? The Scottish champions must now fill the void left by a player who did not just make a habit of scoring, but of scoring big goals in big games. In his debut season with Celtic, two sublime finishes in the 2-1 League Cup final victory over Hibernian at Hampden established Kyogo as a man for the big occasion. Rangers will certainly be glad to see the back of him. In 17 derby matches, Kyogo scored eight times, four of them match-winners. Since he was signed by Ange Postecoglou in 2021 from J-League club Vissel Kobe, no player has scored more than Kyogo's 63 Scottish Premiership goals, with Heart of Midlothian's Lawrence Shankland next on the list on 51. After netting 20 and 34 respectively in all competitions in his first two seasons under Postecoglou, the scoring rate has dropped in the past two seasons to 19 goals in 2023-24 and 12 goals in 32 games this term. Goals are only one element to Kyogo's game, though, and it is testament to his all-round value that he has remained Brendan Rodgers' first-choice striker even when the goals have not been flowing as freely.It is inconceivable that Celtic will not move for another striker in the remaining week or so of this transfer window.Adam Idah was the big-money signing of the summer and, while the Republic of Ireland striker has contributed eight goals and forced the winner against Young Boys on Wednesday, he has failed to find the net himself in 14 games. He has pace and power and, while at 23 years old he has time to come good, he does not possess Kyogo's movement or deadly finishing ability.However, his work in the channels – taking on full-backs and turning defences with his pace while hassling them when out of possession – is so invaluable to the way Celtic play that deploying him centrally may be solving one problem by creating another. Johnny Kenny has been brought into the first-team fold after a prolific goalscoring spell on loan at Shamrock Rovers but is still to prove himself at the top level. With a domestic Treble to play for and a first appearance in the Champions League knockout stages since 2013 still to come this season, Celtic will surely look to beef up their attacking options.Only time will tell if allowing Kyogo to leave mid-season is a good move or not. Selling a 30-year-old signed for £4.5m for a reported £10m, having enjoyed four excellent years of service, makes sound financial sense, but only if an adequate replacement can be found. Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton said on X: 'The one thing I really am not keen on is Kyogo leaving in January, especially with the Champions League and domestic to play for. 'If that's the case, his replacement will have to be pretty special and have to hit the ground running.' Podcaster Paul-John Dykes, from A Celtic State of Mind, described news of Kyogo's expected departure as 'really disappointing'. 'You look at that moment where he's changed his agency in the summer,' he told BBC Scotland. 'You don't want to lose the quality of a Kyogo, but I think that was the first sign. 'After the change of agency, there was that story link coming to Manchester City and, at that point, we wrote that off as being a means of trying to drum up interest. Then there was the MLS chat of the week that was apologised for, it was a mistake online. 'But the one thing now that's really telling is the fact that Brendan Rodgers a couple of weeks back said that if a player doesn't want to be here then he can go. And that left us all guessing who could that be? 'He was always there in the big games. You could count on him on the big occasion. I mean, even the ghost hat-trick the other night against Young Boys, he's left us with a memory that his finishing was unbelievable. His anticipation, his movement, was incredible. Very, very sad to see him go. 'We've put ourselves in a position where it's going to be difficult to replace him like-for-like in terms of quality. We do need to go in and buy a player in January, otherwise we're going to be short for the rest of the season.
Celtic Kyogo Furuhashi Rennes Ligue 1 Scottish Premiership Transfer Football Striker Goals Brendan Rodgers Ange Postecoglou Champions League
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