CHRIS SUTTON reckons Celtic should have kept Kyogo Furuhashi until the end of the season.
The former Hoops goal hero is mystified at the timing of the Japanese striker quitting the club for Rennes at such a crucial stage of the campaign.
And Sutton insists his old club would NOT have allowed Henrik Larsson to move during their run to the UEFA Cup Final in Seville in 2003.
That would have been unthinkable and it’s a similar situation with Kyogo, scorer of 85 goals since his £4.6million arrival from Vissel Kobe in July 2021, as Brendan Rodgers prepares his team for the Champions League play-offs while the club bid for the 55th title in their glorious history.
TAKE-OFF…Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates a goal in Celtic’s 4-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle in November.
Sutton said: “I just don’t get this Kyogo sale. There is a right time and a wrong time to leave.
“Brendan Rodgers said Kyogo wanted to go. 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.
“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.”
THE LAST HURRAH…Kyogo Furuhashi runs away in triumph after netting his second – and final – Celtic goal in the 4-1 victory over Ross County in Dingwall on January 11.
Sutton, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “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.
“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.
“And, incidentally, 30 is not old. Look at Mo Salah down the road at Liverpool.”
The one-time England international forward added: “It’s not as if Celtic are like Rangers and need the money. Why not give it your best shot to reach the next stage?
“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.
THE SIGNS ARE GOOD…Kyogo Furuhashi is flat out after another strike.
“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. 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.
“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 in the bag with the League Cup is already won.
PARADISE FOUND…Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates his first goal at Parkhead in August 2021 as he tucks away the opener on his way to a hat-trick in the Hoops’ 6-0 win over Dundee,
“Finding an upgrade on Kyogo would most certainly represent pushing on, but, 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.”
Coincidentally, Celtic are due to play Dundee at Parkhead in the Premiership this afternoon – the same team, venue and competition where Kyogo netted his first goal in front of the Hoops fans in Paradise.
The new recruit enjoyed the sensation so much he added two more for his first hat-trick in a 6-0 win for Ange Postecoglou’s new-look team on August 8 2021.
Pity we can’t turn the clock back.
ALEX’S ANGLE: THE FOLLY OF KYOGO
