Brendan Rodgers was very economical when he was quizzed about Kyogo Furuhashi’s shoulder issue.
Seventeen minutes into the match against Dundee the striker went off the pitch with almost every Celtic fan fearing the worst.
Twice last season he had to be substituted in the early stages of matches, last September he was replaced by Giorgos Giakoumakis in the Glasgow Derby, in February against St Mirren Oh Hyeon-gyu was the replacement.
Kyogo does seem to have some sort of shoulder condition but it appears that the player and club are both comfortable in managing it.
Conventionally a dislocated shoulder can be ‘popped back’ once, if it happens again surgery and a couple of months out of action is the solution.
After playing a few minutes with 10 men Kyogo returned, headed Celtic’s second goal then set up the third before being substituted in the 69th minute by Oh.
Covering the post-match media conference The Scotsman reports:
“It was just his shoulder, he just needed to get some work off the pitch and quickly the medical team sorted it out,” said Rodgers, “He came back in and was fine.” Asked if the shoulder needed to be popped back in, he answered: “Yes”. He was equally economical with his reply when a reporter wondered if the player was a doubt for midweek. “No,” said the Celtic manager.
With Liel Abada and Cameron Carter-Vickers missing the start of the Champions League campaign the last thing that Celtic need is for Kyogo to be out of action through injury.
Perhaps surgery can be carried out at the end of the season to minimise his time out of action but his second half performance again underlined how important he is to Rodgers’ side.
Oh is the obvious replacement, after that there is Daizen Maeda playing in his international position with no other obvious strikers available with the Champions League three days away.
