Manchester City expert Sam Lee of The Athletic delivers Kyogo update

After last week’s scare it appears that the chances of Kyogo Furuhashi joining Manchester City have receded.

Sam Lee of The Athletic broke the worrying news that the Celtic striker was on a very short list of potential back up options to Erling Haaland.

It seemed a fairly contrived criteria with City looking for a top quality striker that could step in as back up for the prolific Norwegian but be content at being a distant second choice with very limited playing time.

With Kyogo switching agent earlier this month there was genuine concern among Celtic fans that Matt O’Riley wouldn’t be the only high profile departure during the current window.

That scenario cropped up at Friday’s pre-match media conferences with nothing definite emerging from Pep Guardiola or Brendan Rodgers but according to Lee it is far from certain that City will be signing another striker with Kyogo not quite the front runner he appeared last week.

There is always the possibility that another club could put in a bid for Kyogo before Friday’s deadline passes with Spurs the most obvious option.

That would leave Celtic short on a striker, earlier today there was a very far fetched suggestion that Odsonne Edouard could be returning to Celtic.

Nothing can be ruled out in the final days of the transfer window but seeing Kyogo’s name on the team sheet for Sunday’s Glasgow Derby will be a welcome sight to Celtic fans for a number of reasons.

After missing the League Cup tie against Hibs due to his shoulder issue Kyogo came off the bench during the second half of Celtic’s 3-0 win over St Mirren and looked to be his usual energetic self, no allowances were being made for the shoulder injury that he seems happy to nurse without reverting to surgery.

In three SPFL appearances this season the Japanese internationalist has yet to score but there are no causes for concern with his style of play, off the shoulder of the last defender, creating plenty of openings for team-mates, notably Nicolas Kuhn.

All being well Kyogo will be in at the heart of Sunday’s Glasgow Derby and hopefully edging closer to his 100th Celtic goal after ending last season on a tally of 73 which includes seven in the Glasgow Derby, all scored during 2023.