Celtic fought off competition from La Liga and Eredivisie clubs before signing Kyogo Furuhashi from Vissel Kobe during the summer of 2021.
And according to the Japan international’s representative – speaking to the Daily Mail – it was the ‘history and the reputation’ of the Scottish Premiership champions that made the difference in the end.
Kyogo Furuhashi, during two outstanding years in Glasgow, has written his own name into Celtic’s storied folklore.
The £4.5 million signing was Ange Postecoglou’s 34-goal top scorer as the Hoops secured their fifth treble in just eight seasons last term. And if you were to rank all the most inspired signings of the Postecoglou era – and there’s no shortage of those – Kyogo almost certainly be the first to stride onto the podium.
Kyogo Furuhashi fires Celtic to another treble
“I had been trying to get a deal for Kyogo in Spain, Belgium and other countries. There was an offer from Spain, an offer from Belgium. There was another one from the Netherlands,” says Kyogo’s representative, via the Glasgow Times.
“We had around four transfer windows before he moved to Celtic. And each time we brought an offer, the club did not want to let him go. He was becoming a very important player to Vissel Kobe, and they didn’t want to lose their best striker.
“Eventually, we got the offer from Celtic and the transfer fee was good. It was a dream for a player from Vissel Kobe to go to a great club such as Celtic. The offers we had before were from good clubs. But none of them had the history and reputation of Celtic.”
A prolific goalscorer and a ferocious presser too, Kyogo’s tailor-made suitability to Postecoglou’s proactive, attack-first approach have led to almost inevitable suggestions that player and coach could be reunited south of the border at Tottenham Hotspur.
According to The Sun, Kyogo is valued in the region of £20 million these days.
Celtic legend Chris Sutton, however, is confident that Postecoglou will not want to risk burning his bridges by raiding Parkhead for their top-scoring talisman.
“I may be wrong here, and you can play this clip back, but I don’t think that Ange will go in for any of the Celtic players,” Sutton tells BBC Radio 5 Live.
“The Celtic fans love him. If he went back and pinched their best players, they would not be happy.”
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