Celtic’s decision to sign Kyogo Furuhashi last summer has proven to be an absolute masterclass. The Japanese star is arguably the best player in all of Scotland right now. His only shortcoming since arriving in Glasgow has been his injury record because other than that, he has been pretty much perfect in the Hoops.
Of course, there were eyebrows raised when the club signed him. The move did come out of the blue, with no rumours making the rounds before the official announcement was made. Many wondered if he could handle the physicality of Scottish football.
Well, as it turns out, Scottish football has not been able to handle him. He has scored goals throughout his time at Celtic, and seems to be only getting better.
While many fans might have believed that the move for him was risky, Postecoglou appeared to have no such doubts in his mind. As reported by Football Scotland, speaking on BT Sport’s new podcast Currie Club alongside Darrell Currie and Chris Sutton, the Celtic manager revealed:
"“Kyogo was the least risky.“I was so confident about him. I’d watched him and had been coaching against him and my team, even the year we won the championship, I remember talking to our players and defenders used to always say he’s the one player they couldn’t handle.“And it’s a good standard in Japan. He was the first one I said, ‘I have to sign this guy’.“He was the least risky for me.”"
Postecoglou makes brilliant admission about Celtic’s move for Kyogo
It is safe to say that Postecoglou’s faith in Kyogo has paid off and then some. He was one of the key reasons behind Celtic winning the Premiership last season, even though he did spend significant spells out injured. On the other hand, the Japanese star also scored a brace in the League Cup final against Hibernian to win the Hoops the game.
It remains to be seen if Kyogo can improve upon his stats from last season. He has made a brilliant start and has more goals than games played at the moment.
On the other hand, Celtic do have another brilliant striker in their ranks in the form of Giorgos Giakoumakis and as a result, Postecoglou will have to make sure that he gives enough minutes to both the Greek international and Kyogo at the same time.