If there were ever any worries about Kyogo Furuhashi having his head-turned by transfer stories linking him with Crystal Palace, it seems our Japanese striker hasn’t been paying them much heed.
Possibly because someone at Celtic would no doubt have informed him that such mischief making from the Scottish football press is all too common in the build up to any Glasgow Derby encounter – never mind one with the first silverware of the season at stake – but also because Kyogo is far too respectful and focused a chap to fall for all of that/
And as reported in Daily Record Kyogo has said all the right things and ensured he hasn’t fallen into any thinly veiled attempts to derail the Celts ahead of Sunday’s League Cup Final with the club from across the city.
“I want to be as successful as possible with this club. My focus is only on Celtic to be able to have the most possible success for the club. As a team, we want to win as many titles as possible with Celtic. As my personal goal, I would like to score 30 goals this season.
“But of course, I don’t know what will happen in the future. So I just want to score as many goals as possible and contribute to the team’s victory.”
Kyogo’s confidence must have taken a knock when national coach Hajime Moriyasu surprisingly left the striker at home, rather than include him in the part that ultimately performed so impressively at the Qatar World Cup. However, the critical self-analysis will surely please the Japan boss, just as much as his upturn in form since being omitted.
“Obviously I’m not a great player, so I still need to keep working on my game and improving,” a modest Kyogo stated. “My positional play, for example, or the timing when I offer myself for a pass, or that I will be even more varied in my finishing. I keep working on those things in training so that I can implement all of these processes in the game in the best possible way.
“I am very grateful because I have great teammates, club staff and fans who all always support me. Fans who cheer me on, a team of coaches who trust me as well as teammates who fight for the ball with a lot of physical effort and create chances with wonderful passes.
“I want to repay everyone’s trust by scoring goals, running a lot, with and without the ball, to help the team win. After the World Cup squad announcement, I immediately switched my mind and concentrated on the upcoming Celtic Champions League game against Real Madrid, but I wasn’t able to play the way I had hoped for and I was therefore no help to our team.
“But I was very happy that my teammates kept encouraging me to help build me up again. So I was very determined to do even better and score more goals to not only win matches, but to make all my teammates smile. And during the World Cup, I was really inspired by the fighting spirit of the Japanese internationals. It was a bit different than watching previous tournaments because this time it was all players that I played with.
“This made me want to work on my skills even more and improve the quality of my game. I think that my development curve is currently pointing in a good direction.”
Kyogo certainly has a wise head on his shoulders. And some of that will of course come with experience, after all whilst Kyogo may be relatively new to all of us, at 28 years of age he’s been around the block long enough.
Yet some of that will also come from learning from some top pros who were playing alongside him at Vissel Kobe, including the likes of Andres Iniesta and David Villa. It’s little wonder then Kyogo has picked up the best of footballing habits to supplement his media nous.
“At Vissel Kobe we had a lot of good players. It was a great experience to train and play with players like Andres Iniesta or David Villa and also with wonderful Japanese players with international experience like Gotoku Sakai or Hotaru Yamaguchito.
“I was able to learn a lot, for example in terms of the intensity and quality of the game, or the great passion of wanting to win every game. I think that I can currently show that I have learned from all these experiences and that I am very willing to keep growing,
“I also watch a lot of football which is educational for me and of course I watch the Bundesliga, which is very popular in Japan because many Japanese players play there and have important roles in the respective clubs. I believe that the success of many Japanese players abroad will encourage all the people who play football in the country, especially the children.”
So, despite the best efforts of some to drum up interest in Kyogo, in much the same way Ange Postecoglou has had to contend with in recent weeks, it appears just like his boss Kyogo is quite happy fighting for trophies and performing in the Champions League with Celtic.
However there clearly remains one thing Kyogo would like to change, namely more recognition at international level. Kyogo now has a platform afforded to him this Sunday which Hajime Moriyasu will certainly be paying attention too. So the stage is now set for Celtic’s top scorer impress his national boss, and what better way than bagging a couple of goals in a Glasgow Derby Cup Final.
Niall J
