Kyogo leaves Celtic with an exceptional legacy, but it is the right time for all parties | OneFootball

Kyogo leaves Celtic with an exceptional legacy, but it is the right time for all parties…

Kyogo’s fan club. A young Celtic supporter with a Kyogo scarf at the League Cup Final win over Hibs in December 2021. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

I had recently reluctantly drafted a piece for The Celtic Star website on why Kyogo leaving Celtic during this window whether it be for the MLS or elsewhere makes perfect sense.

Kyogo is one of my all-time favourite Celts

It was a difficult one to write. As a Gen-Z, Kyogo is up there with one of my all-time favourite Celts. In future years, I may look back and say he is top of that list. However, even as one of his biggest fanatics, his time at Celtic is up.

Relying on that sharpness and pace, like he has done for several seasons now, is clearly dwindling. Age catches up to us all, some more than others, but it is evident Brendan Rodgers needs a new main man at the top end of the pitch. The mantelpiece must be passed on.

19th December 2021; Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland; Scottish League Cup final, Hibernian versus Celtic: Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic with the trophy. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

After all, the signs of Celtic’s talismanic figure for three and a half years departing were there from the eve of the season beginning. Changing agents despite signing a four-year contract 12 months previously – if you were joining the dots, it certainly pointed towards a willingness from the 30 year-old to end his remarkable stint in Glasgow.

Ange Postecoglou’s talisman

Ange Postecoglou made Kyogo the focal point of the Aussie’s Celtic revolution in the summer of 2021 for the small sum of £4.5m from J-League side Vissel Kobe. Kyogo symbolised the reincarnation of a Celtic side who were in much need of a spark after the disastrous COVID season. Less than four years later, he notched up 165 appearances, scoring on 85 occasions.

For the stattos; eight strikes against theRangers, 30 match winning goals, five cup final goals, eight European goals,18 assists, eight trophies, two PFA Team of the Years’, one PFA Scotland Players Player of the Year and one SWFA Footballer of the Year.

The best since Larsson

Debates around ‘the best since Larsson’ will follow, and undoubtedly, Kyogo’s goalscoring exploits coupled with his influence in ‘big’ matches makes a convincing argument that the man from Japan certainly is the best since the King of Kings.

Kyogo scores for Celtic against theRangers in the 2023 League Cup Final at Hampden. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Historians of the future will outline this period of monumental success, and there will be a chapter on Kyogo Furuhashi. Paying under five million, selling him on at the age of 30 for more than half of what you bought him for and getting everything and more on the pitch in between. A class act whose presence at Celtic Park will be missed.

Kyogo’s wish to play for Japan at the next World Cup

Kyogo’s wish to play for Japan at the next World Cup – his last chance to do so – seems to hinge on playing for a club in one of the top five leagues. Whether that’s his own assessment or it’s what he’ been advised by the national team manager isn’t really important.

A Celtic supporter with a Kyogo Furuhashi scarf amongst the supporters after the Scottish Cup Final between theRangers and Celtic at Hampden Park on May 25, 2024. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Brendan doesn’t want to retain players who ‘want-away’, and that is the correct stance as we all remember the Covid season and how that panned out by retaining players longer than their wish to remain in Glasgow.

Now, Celtic must complete the task of replacing him. If I was joining the dots about Kyogo leaving the club, then I’m sure the club will have done their due diligence and have a striker lined up.

Celtic supporters have seen players come and go, but Kyogo’s exit will be sorer than most. Though, in the fulness of time I believe it will be for the best of all parties involved. Put simply the timing is right, perfect even and while breaking up is hard to do it is clearly right for all parties, including of course Kyogo who has earned his place in the Celtic story.

Kyogo with the League Cup after defeating theRangers in the Final, February 2023. Photo Kenny Ramsay

Good luck to the little man as he embarks on his new journey in France. That goals compilation will be a long one!

Good luck and God Bless. YNWA

幸運と神のご加護を。あなたは決して一人で歩くことはありません

Conor Spence

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