CELTIC goal hero John Hartson reckons Kyogo Furuhashi has some unfinished business at the champions.
The Japanese international striker is at the centre of transfer speculation with a link to Spurs to be reunited with Ange Postecoglou, the manager who took him from Vissel Kobe to Parkhead in a bargain £4.6million switch in July 2021.
Kyogo has fired in 54 goals in his two seasons in Scotland, netted five in three Cup Final triumphs, claimed 34 as the Hoops sealed a world record eighth treble last time out and picked up Scotland’s Player of the Year award.
KYO-GOAL…Celtic’s ace marksman Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates one of his 54 strikes for the champions.
Hartson insists the 28-year-old fans’ favourite looks happy at the club, but there is still a blemish on his outstanding CV – his lack of goals among the Champions League elite.
Kyogo fired blanks in the six group games against Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk as Postecoglou’s men lost four and drew two of their outings before finishing bottom of the section.
The Japanese ace’s name was missing from the scorers’ list with the Hoops claiming a mere four strikes – two from Filipe Jota, one from Giorgos Giakoumakis and an own goal from Shakhtar’s Artem Bondarenko.
Hartson said: “I think Kyogo may want another shot at the Champions League. He was brilliant in the Premiership last season. Some of his finishes for his 34 goals were world class and his movement is absolutely fantastic.
“But Celtic were not clinical enough in the Champions League last season. It was the goalscoring that let the team down.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates his first goal in the League Cup Final derby victory in February. Greg Taylor joins in.
“Their play up until the final third was great and they could have got a few results in Europe had they been more clinical.
“Kyogo will want to show he can do it at the highest level. I hope he puts that right next season. I certainly think he’s very capable of doing that.
“Of course, you want to keep all your best players. Ange might come back and test Celtic’s resolve, but, hopefully, Celtic can fend off any offers and Brendan Rodgers can show Kyogo that he really wants him as a key part of his set-up.
“I wouldn’t want Celtic to sell Kyogo, but Tottenham have massive money, so it’s going to be up to Celtic, the board, the player and Brendan Rodgers. But I do think Kyogo looks very happy at Celtic. He’s just off a treble, so why wouldn’t he be?”
Hartson was a key member of Martin O’Neill’s squad that reached the Europa League Final in 2003 before losing 3-2 in extra-time to Jose Mourinho’s Porto.
The Welsh legend scored one of the greatest goals of his prolific career with a solo, net-bursting effort in the 2-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield en route to a 3-1 aggregate win and the showpiece event in Seville.
TREBLE YELL…Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates the Scottish Cup Final victory as Celtic complete the domestic clean sweep at Hampden last month.
Hartson, speaking to the Scottish Daily Mail, continued: “I do think it would be a big jump for Celtic to reach a European Final. I know Rangers did very well and got to the Europa League Final in 2022 and some of their results were outstanding, like beating Borussia Dortmund.
“But I think Celtic should be looking to try to get out of the group stages in the Champions League and if they drop into the Europa League they should be looking at reaching a quarter-final or a semi-final.
“All this talk about great trips for the fans to places like Madrid, we have to move on from that.
“Celtic is a huge club known all around the world with some fabulous players. They’ve just won a treble and, yes, they’ve lost their manager Postecoglou, but they’ve got a very good one taking over in Brendan Rodgers.
“So, if Celtic don’t quite get out of the group stages they need to push onto the latter stages of the Europa League and then you never know what can happen.
EURO STAR…John Hartson, watched by Jackie McNamara. thunders in a wonder goal in Celtic’s 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield.
“When we got to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, none of us thought we would get to Seville. We just took it game by game.
“We drew Blackburn Rovers and had a really tough game, but we won it. Then we had hard games against Celta Vigo, Liverpool and Stuttgart and we kept going.
“Then all of a sudden a wonder player called Henrik Larsson scores a late winner in Boavista and we were into the Final — and we couldn’t believe it.”
Hartson added: “It happens pretty much like that. It was a game-by-game adventure. You start to click and the team starts to believe in itself more along the way.
“Celtic will be hoping to do something similar, but it would be on a game-by-game basis.
“What is certain, though, is Celtic need to deliver more success in Europe. A club like Celtic needs to be going on a good European run again.”
