“I already feel like I’ve crossed a mountain at Celtic,” Kyogo Furuhashi

What a difference a year makes. Kyogo Furuhashi had just come out of quarantine and was immediately on the substitutes bench as Celtic went down to a controversial 2-1 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle on the opening Scottish Premiership match of last season.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – AUGUST 08: Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic celebrates his third goal (Hat trick goal) during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Dundee FC on August 8, 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. (Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images)

A year on and the Japan international striker reflected on his debut season and looked ahead to improving even further in the new season as he looks to avoid injury, score more goals than the 20 he managed last season for Celtic – despite missing four months through a hamstring tear – and pushing for a place on the Japan team that will be playing at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of the year.

Speaking to Japan Daily News (The Mainichi), Kyogo also talked about his early language struggles and how this wears communication woes have subsided as he’s now picked up enough English to understand what his teammates are saying and what messages Ange Postecoglou has for his talismanic striker. And the arrival of three new signings from Japan at the start of this year – Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi meant that he had teammates he could communicate with in his mother tongue.

“To be honest, it felt like my first season at Celtic was over in no time. I was confident in my J-League era and that was valid as I could get in front of goal and score.

“However, I was also able to score 20 goals for Celtic last season because I had team-mates who understood and accepted my characteristics,” Kyogo said, as reported by Scottish Sun.

“After the transfer in July, I felt the atmosphere of, ‘Who is this guy?’ in the team,” Kyogo continued. “No wonder. I came off the bench in the first game of the season (at Tynecastle) but that day was actually a case of, ‘Nice to meet you’ with my team-mates.

“There was a quarantine for about ten days after entering from Japan at that point. So I had to join the team and play immediately. I participated in the second half, but I hadn’t even been training with the team, so I didn’t get a goal.

19th December 2021; Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland; Scottish League Cup final, Hibernian versus Celtic: Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic celebrates after he makes it 2-1 to Celtic in the 72nd minute

“I tried my best in that game, but it didn’t work,” Kyogo said as he looked back on that difficult debut in Edinburgh. Things didn’t take long to turn around and in his first start for Celtic the following weekend Kyogo became an instant fans favourite scoring a hat-trick and in doing so justifying immediately the huge amount of faith shown in him by the Celtic manager who was well aware of Kyogo’s attributes from his own tome managing in the J-League.

“However, I was able to score three goals in my first home match the following week. It was great that my first goals caught everyone’s hearts,” Kyogo said, before looking ahead to his own targets and ambitions for the season ahead which gets underway this Sunday against Aberdeen in the 4.30pm (CPT) kick-off.

“I want to get even bigger numbers in the coming season. I want to be humble, work hard and aim for the position of a hero. But I already feel like I’ve crossed a mountain at Celtic. Of course, I think I’ve won the trust of people by helping us to get results.

“But everyone understood my character and I was able to break out of my shell.”

Modesty comes easy for this very humble footballer, there’s zero arrogance about Kyogo as you’ll see from these next comments. “My face doesn’t have a good first impression, and I tend to think it’s scary! So, I just smiled when I joined. Initially, my English ability was almost zero.

“It’s better to be smiling than to be sullen because you can’t understand the other person’s words. Then everyone was so kind they talked to me more and more. Over time, my ears got used to it, and now I can understand what the manager tells me.”

On his communications woes last year, arriving in Scotland from Japan without any English at all, Kyogo was delighted to see his three countrymen arrive at the club at the start of January. “In terms of communication, it was great that three Japanese players arrived. In the past, when talking about important things with friends, I often talked through an interpreter.

“But since three people joined at once, the interpreter became busy! I’ve been here for half-a-year now, so I’ve come to think more about, ‘Let’s do it myself’. Originally, I was shy, but now I can speak positively.”

Kyogo’s two goals turned around the League Cup Final against Hibs just before Christmas but his season took a dramatic turn for the worse up at McDiarmid Park in Perth on Boxing Day when after ten minutes or so of action Kyogo went down with an injury and it turned out to be a hamstring problem that would keep him sidelined for four long months and probably cost him another 10 to 15 goals.

Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic celebrates after scoring their side’s first goal during the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and Hibernian. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“Everyone was very worried when I was injured and missed months,” Kyogo recalled. “When I came back, I was greeted with a really happy face from everyone and to play again made me so glad.

“The supporters at my return game were also amazing. During the match, I got a standing ovation just by going from the bench to warm up. When I came on, the cheer was so loud. I remember getting goosebumps and almost crying.”

That heartfelt reaction from the Celtic support proved to Kyogo that he had indeed crossed a mountain at Celtic and with a World Cup place to play for in the coming months he is surely going to be even better this time around for the Hoops. Kyogo reckons he has work to do to be sure that he’ll be on the plane to Qatar with his international teammates.

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

“With Japan, I still have to do my best. Currently I am not a player who can be called as a matter of course. I didn’t score in the friendly matches in June and there were few opportunities. But I need to keep showing my movements.

“If you keep doing it, the number of people who see it will definitely increase — so I will keep running. I really want to play in the World Cup and I want to score goals. I think it’s within reach for me.”

COMING UP NEXT ON THE CELTIC STAR…The original Japanese Bhoy signs for Celtic

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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