Chris Sutton has admitted that he isn’t convinced with the club’s decision to sell star man, Kyogo Furuhashi…

The Japanese international is in the process of moving from the club he has given so much to over the past three-and-a-half years, with Stade Rennais his next destination in the French Ligue 1.
Kyogo will be a hard act to follow
Brendan Rodgers revealed that Kyogo made his intentions clear to leave a few months ago and the club have been working away in the background trying to tie up his replacement. The focal point of the Celtic attack will be a hard act to follow, considering the fee we got him for initially and the importance of his goals and play to this current team. Sutton isn’t sure the timing is correct and revealed in his Daily Record column that it feels like the Hoops have admitted they have reached their end goal this season in Europe.

Admitted there’s a ceiling on their Champions League ambitions
“Selling Kyogo Furuhashi feels like Celtic have just put their hands up and admitted there’s a ceiling on their Champions League ambitions,” Sutton wrote. “That the end of the road has been reached in Europe this term, whilst an unnecessary risk has been taken at home. If you wanted to be ultra-critical, you could even say it’s money over magic. Celtic deserve big congratulations for qualifying into the Champions League play-off stages. Brendan Rodgers and the players have really delivered at the top table and it’s been brilliant to see after years of underachievement at the top level. But they can aim for more. And the title isn’t won either. I get annoyed when people say it is all over. It’s why I just don’t get this Kyogo sale. There is a right time and a wrong time to leave.”
‘Sell him in the summer, but why now?’
The man who was no stranger to the goal when he played for the club finds the timing particularly odd and reckons he should have been told he could leave this summer and honour his contract. “Rodgers said Kyogo wanted to go,” he added. “I get that. Fair enough, sell him in the summer, but why now in the midst of a campaign where more can be achieved? After three-and-a-half years, he clearly wanted a new challenge, but that’s not his call to make. Not when under contract. Yes you can go, but when we decide. Not you.

Kyogo doesn’t seem like a bad egg
“I’m not in the dressing room, but Kyogo doesn’t seem like a bad egg, or the sort to cause unrest. Callum McGregor said recently he was still a happy wee guy. Rodgers said this issue has been on the go for a couple of months, but Kyogo was still delivering in the past fortnight with big goals at Ross County a fortnight ago and being dangerous against Young Boys, so it’s not like the tools had been packed away. The manager also says he fits in perfectly to how the team wants to play, so surely just tell him he can go in the summer. Not at a time when there is more to aim for.”
‘It’ll be extremely tough in the play-off’
He said: “It’s as if Celtic have reached the play-offs for the Champions League and now think: That’ll do. I always think about ambition, the what if? It’ll be extremely tough in the play-off, but you stand a far-better chance of making another step if you have your best players and Kyogo was the best striker by a stretch. Celtic now go to Villa Park for a Battle of Britain without their main man and Daizen Maeda suspended. That’s odd timing.”

‘You can tell me that £10million is a good fee for a 30-year-old all you like’
With there being a deficit of goals now in the team too, Sutton isn’t sure that even with return of Jota and Kieran Tierney, Rodgers’ team will be the better for it. He continued: “The club is brilliantly run upstairs and I understand there’s a business decision involved, some fans and pundits saying that it’s a good deal, but I don’t see it that way at all. You can tell me that £10million is a good fee for a 30-year-old all you like, but that’s nothing in the modern game for a game-changer and nothing when it comes to the riches which are being dragged in the door from Europe.
‘I couldn’t imagine Henrik Larsson being sold midway through our run to Seville’
“And, incidentally, 30 is not old. Look at Mo Salah down the road at Liverpool and it’s not as if Celtic are like (the)Rangers and need the money. Why not give it your best shot to reach the next stage. Like I said, it’s like a hands-up. Put it this way, I couldn’t imagine Henrik Larsson being sold midway through our run to Seville. Kyogo’s an enormous loss and Celtic must have a top-class replacement lined-up. You couldn’t possibly sell the Asian now otherwise. If they get someone as good or even better, I’ll be the first to hold my own hands up.

“It might be that the new boy turns out to be even better than Kyogo in the long run, but some boys need time to bed in and you are running a risk. Yes Celtic are massive odds-on in the title race, but no-one can ever take things for granted. All it takes is a couple of defeats to start a wobble. In Dingwall a fortnight ago, Celtic would have dropped points had Kyogo not come up with the goods.
Maeda can’t play the central role like Kyogo
“I’ve not having a go at Adam Idah, but he just doesn’t have the same abilities at the moment to alter matches, no matter his part in the late moment against Young Boys. Maeda can’t play the central role like Kyogo. He doesn’t have the same touch or the ability to play around corners with his back to goal. A quality centre-forward must be found because Jota is not for like-for-like. Kieran Tierney will also please the fans, but he’s not a striker either.”

‘Jota is fascinating. He’s barely played since leaving Celtic’
“Jota is fascinating. He’s barely played since leaving Celtic. If people expect the same Jota to come back, then great. but I have my doubts. How hungry is he? He had that hunger the first time around, but he needs to prove himself again. Three starts for Rennes this term. He’ll need time. And you need guys ready to crack on without a bedding-in period.
“For me, it just sends out the wrong signal to sell Kyogo. It suggests Celtic feel that the season’s targets have already been accomplished by reaching the play-off stages and thinking the title is already in the bag with the League Cup is already won.

He concluded: “Don’t get me wrong, if you had said that to Celtic fans at the beginning of the season that they’d win another title and get beyond the league phase in Europe, they’d have been delighted. But talk about pricking the balloon straight after the qualification was secured.
“Celtic are in a great position at the moment at home and the expectation is to try and push forward. Finding an upgrade on Kyogo would most-certainly represent pushing on, but, like I said, it’s going to take a helluva player to do it and you are also asking a lot for him to sparkle instantly. However, the facts are he’ll have to because Kyogo has been the brightest attacking light, arguably, since Henrik.”
Paul Gillespie

Sutton is talking p!sh here. You can’t keep a player that doesn’t want to stay. Contractual you can, bit the player will not give you 100% , which we’ve seen in kyogo for many many months. So getting 10 million for a 30 year old striker that isn’t scoring goals and is prone to injury is excellent business regardless what anyone says. And getting Jota back is superb.
And to say that we’ve gave up on europe because of this is utter garbage. We’ve sold top top players before (Hooper, Dembele, Eddie) did we hear the same rubbish about ceilings after that? No! We find and bring in better players. It’s a round a bout that will keep happening. So we all need to get over this and move on. Kyogo didn’t want to be here so punting him was the right move and I for one applaud it.
Nah, totally disagree.. Kyogo said in the summer that he wanted to leave and he’s been miles off it this season. You have to think that both of those facts are linked.
Yes, he played well against Ross County (as almost a winger) and looked dangerous against Young Boys, but ultimately we have been really poor in the striker department this season and he’s the main component of that area of the park. His performances have not been at the level required and that’s a fact.
Not saying that he’d downed tools, but if your heart’s not in something anymore, the way in which you perform that task will suffer.
Also, the fact that he is willing to leave Celtic to sign for a club in the French league who are outside the RELEGATION play-off place merely by goal difference tells its own story. That’s how much he wanted to leave.
Rodgers says that this has been in the works for a while and they were prepared for it, so we have to trust that. If we waited even until after the Villa game, we may have been cutting it fine to sign his replacement. Maeda being suspended is neither here nor there, as the deal was obviously lined up before Wednesday’s game.
They clearly believe they will adequately replace Kyogo, so it’s not as if we’re going to play the rest of the season with a misfiring Idah as the main man.. At least, I hope not 😂
Disagree with Sutton.
Player wants away.
30 yr old not getting any quicker.
We had his best years.
Adh mor Kyogo.
Hail Hail.