Latest news with #KyogoFuruhashi
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
'Different' Celtic verdict landed for 85-goal striker as transfer puts Scotland ace's future in doubt
The former Celtic hitman made his first appearance for his new club earlier this week. Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The arrival of ex-Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi at Birmingham City is likely to push Scotland striker Lyndon Dykes towards the St. Andrew's exit door this summer, according to one leading pundit. The 30-year-old former Hoops hitman became a cult hero at Celtic Park after scoring 85-goals in three-and-half seasons in Glasgow, but departed in order to sign for Rennes for a reported fee of £10million in January. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Japanese striker endured a nightmare six months in France though, playing just six times for the Ligue 1 outfit, which resulted in him making a cut-price summer move to Birmingham earlier this month, where he is hoping to fire them to a second successive promotion in the EFL Championship this coming season. Kyogo Furuhashi has struggled in Ligue 1 after leaving Celtic in January. | AFP via Getty Images Kyogo's arrival at St. Andrew's has already saw the English second-tier club allow striker Alfie May to depart in order to join Huddersfield Town, and Dykes could be the next player to exit the Midlands club. The 42-cap Scotland ace managed to score just one league goal for the Blues during their record breaking EFL League One title win last season, and his poor goal scoring record could see Birmingham sanction an exit this summer, according to Sky Sports pundit and former Motherwell striker Don Goodman. 'I think you have to go back to 2020/21 to see the last time that Lyndon Dykes managed double figures in the Championship,' said Goodman. 'It's been a tough few years for him, don't think that he's going to get a lot of game time at Birmingham City this season in the EFL Championship. I don't really think he's a prolific scorer of goals. 'I think there's only once, since he's been in England, that he's managed to get double figures – I think that was Queens Park Rangers in his first season there. If I were him, I would absolutely be looking to find an avenue out and find a way to a club that is going to play me week in and week out.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Birmingham head coach Chris Davies admits he could not have dreamed of signing a player of the quality of Furuhashi until recently, and conceded he is seriously considering pairing England Under-21 international Jay Stansfield with the ex-Celtic star ahead of the upcoming season. Lyndon Dykes future is under serious threat following the arrival of Kyogo Furuhashi. Cr: SNS Group. | SNS Group 'If you had said that to me a year ago I would have said absolutely no chance [of signing Furuhashi],' said Davies. 'Because he was Celtic's striker. But we saw an opportunity there with him not quite settling in France and thought could we get him here and he believed in what we are doing. I've been encouraged by his sharpness and both foot finishes but he has only played 30 minutes in a training game and 60 minutes here [Burton pre-season friendly], so his fitness is growing steadily.
Times
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Hayato Inamura and Kieran Tierney spark Celtic's attacking evolution
We should always be wary of reading too much into friendlies, especially those like in the case of Celtic's 4-0 win over Newcastle United where one side is significantly further into their pre-season preparations. Nonetheless, even allowing for the inevitable disparity in conditioning between them and their Premier League opponents, there were insights to be gleaned as to how the Scottish champions may plan to attack the sterner tests ahead. Last year, even as Brendan Rodgers' team won another double, came within a penalty shootout of adding the Scottish Cup and made a decent impression in the Champions League, they often faced supporter frustration for the sluggishness of their build-up play and the apparent prioritising of possession over penetration. It could appear an odd charge in the context of a Premiership campaign that brought 112 Celtic goals, but Rodgers himself had acknowledged a desire to add more attacking options even before Nicolas Kühn's move to Como followed the January departure of Kyogo Furuhashi.
Daily Mail
19-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Rodgers insists Celtic's transfer business is far from finished... but there's no word on a new deal for Daizen
Brendan Rodgers last night insisted Celtic still have 'a lot of work to do' in the transfer market — as he revealed he is not aware of any movement on a new deal for Daizen Maeda. The Parkhead boss saw his side hammer Newcastle United yesterday through an Arne Engels penalty and efforts from Johnny Kenny, Yang Hyun-jun and Liam Scales. New Japanese striker Shin Yamada, the club's sixth top-team signing of pre-season, was also paraded pre-match, but Rodgers is insistent that he needs more goals in his side and needs his team to be strengthened all across the front line before the end of next month. With Maeda now entering the last two years of his current contract, there have been rumours of a breakthrough on a new deal after a period of limbo amid interest in his services from elsewhere, but nothing concrete as yet. Celtic are on the trail of Royal Antwerp attacker Michel-Ange Balikwisha as well as being linked with Louis Munteanu of Romanian outfit Cluj — and Rodgers is clear on the fact plenty has to be addressed in terms of bolstering the squad in the wake of selling Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes for £10million in January and hauling in £17m from Como for Nicolas Kuhn earlier in the month. 'We've still got a lot of work to do, but the guys that are training and working with us are doing so well,' he said. 'You saw that today. 'I would expect us, by the end of the window, to have brought in players in certain areas of the pitch that we need to go through a really long season. 'I think it's about bringing goals to the squad. When you've just scored four goals, that seems to be OK, but we lost an important player in January in Kyogo and we've lost Nicolas Kuhn, a lot of goals again. Even Matt O'Riley last summer. 'Even though we scored a lot of goals last season, we still want more, and our ambition is to have more, so I think, all across the front areas, we have to be active in order to give us that depth.' Asked if there had been any progress on negotiations with Maeda and his advisors, Rodgers replied: 'Not that I'm aware of. But he's a professional and his focus is very much on here.' Despite looking for added striking power, Rodgers has stated that new boy Yamada will bring more pace to the team than buzzbomb Maeda. 'His profile suits how we play,' he said. 'He's one of the quickest players from the Japanese league. He's even quicker than Daizen and Kyogo in terms of statistics, and that's how we play, with that speed in the top line. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can bring.' Rodgers was also delighted to see Kieran Tierney, who set up Scales for his goal with an excellent cross, receive a thunderous reception when coming on in the second half. 'I wanted him to get a specific welcome back, because, at his age, he could easily be playing at the top end of the (English) Premier League,' he said. 'To get a player of that level is amazing for us.'
The National
12-07-2025
- Sport
- The National
Brendan Rodgers outlines immediate Celtic transfer priority
The Celtic boss cited the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn as he admitted there is work to be done in the summer window. Rodgers provided the transfer update after Celtic fell to a 3-2 defeat to Estrela da Amadora at Benfica's training centre on Saturday. Reo Hatate and Adam Idah were on target for Celtic, but the Portuguese side claimed a narrow victory in the bounce game. Addressing the press after the match, Rodgers conceded, "we need to improve the squad". And Rodgers insisted staff are hard at work to address the attacking issues as he confirmed work is ongoing on transfer signings this summer. Read more: As quoted by The Scottish Sun, Rodgers said: 'There's work going on behind the scenes. 'It's clear we need to improve the squad. 'There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes, there's loads of names floating about. 'We're clear that we need to improve our frontline. 'We lost Kyogo in January and another player with Nicolas gone. 'That's a lot of goals that's gone out of the team. 'So for us, we need to strengthen that area of the field. But the guys back home are working hard on that.'
Japan Forward
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Japan Forward
Striker Kyogo Furuhashi Joins Birmingham City on a 3-Year Deal
After earning promotion to the second-tier EFL Championship, Birmingham City signed a bevy of players, including Kyogo Furuhashi, before the upcoming season. Former Celtic FC star Kyogo Furuhashi in action against Scottish Premiership foe St Johnstone in an April 2022 file photo. (©REUTERS) Kyogo Furuhashi lasted just six months in France. He returned to the United Kingdom to play for Birmingham City. The 30-year-old Japanese striker has transferred from the French Ligue 1 club to the second-tier English Football League Championship. Furuhashi, who was a prolific scorer for Celtic FC before joining Rennes, has signed a three-year deal with Birmingham City, according to a plethora of media reports. The team's official website on Sunday, July 6, reported that Furuhashi and the team had finalized the deal. Starting in January 2025, the Nara Prefecture native was on the books for a £10 million GBP (about ¥2 billion JPY, or $13.6 million USD) deal for two-and-a-half-years with Rennes. But Birmingham City identified Furuhashi as a coveted option on offense. Birmingham City earned promotion to the Championship by winning the 2024-25 League One title in English soccer's third tier. Locally, the East Anglian Daily Times applauded Birmingham City's decision to pursue Furuhashi at this time. "The signing is a major statement of intent from Birmingham, who enjoyed a record-breaking promotion season in the third tier last term and are among the favorites to challenge for promotion again in the coming campaign," wrote Mark Heath in an article posted on the newspaper's website. Kyogo Furuhashi (GETTY IMAGES/via KYODO) A change of scenery for players can jump-start their motivation for an upcoming season. Case in point: Kyogo Furuhashi. "I'm very happy to be here," Furuhashi said in an interview with Birmingham City's official website on July 6 before adding, "I'm looking forward to working together with you all." Looking back on his past success with the Scottish Premiership's Celtic FC ― including four consecutive league titles in his four seasons with the club (2021-25) ― Furuhashi talked about the excitement he feels in playing against quality opponents and in important matches. "I get fired up more in bigger games, but I score goals because of teammates, so I'm grateful for that," Furuhashi, who only appeared in six Rennes matches, said in the interview. He added, "I'd like to achieve the same here, and hopefully my goals will make everyone happy." During his tenure with Celtic FC, Furuhashi was a prolific scorer, playing an integral role in the team's success. In addition to the four straight Scottish Premiership titles, the Glasgow-based team also won a trio of Scottish League Cups and a pair of Scottish Cups. In the 2022-23 season, Furuhashi was No 1 in the Premiership with 27 goals. And he put the ball in the net 85 times in his 165 Celtic appearances. What is Furuhashi's primary goal with his new team? "I'm here to help the team," he told the team's website, adding, "I'd like to express what I can do on the pitch." Looking at the big picture, he also spelled out a more specific goal for the upcoming 2025-26 season. "I don't want to talk a lot, but there's a chance that we can go up to the Premier League," Furuhashi stated. "We all want to aim for that and after nine months, it will be great if we share the happiness of achieving that." Birmingham City opens its Championship campaign at home on August 8 against Ipswich Town. Midfielder Kanya Fujimoto, who previously suited up for Portuguese club Gil Vicente, has signed a three-year contract with Birmingham City, the team announced on Monday, July 7. Fujimoto, 26, had 10 goals in 30 matches for Gil Vicente in the 2024-25 season. Compatriot Tomoki Iwata, also a midfielder, is entering his second season with Birmingham City. Author: Ed Odeven Find Ed on JAPAN Forward' s dedicated website, SportsLook . Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven .
