Brendan Rodgers isn’t planning to convert Daizen Maeda into a striker despite the expected sale of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes.

At club level Maeda puts in unique performances on the left wing. He isn’t quite a winger, a forward or midfielder but on form, as he usually is, he brings a fresh dimension to Celtic’s play.

Under Hajime Moriyasu on international duty he is used as a striker, selected for the 2022 World Cup Finals ahead of Kyogo he scored in the Round of 16 match against Croatia that was lost on penalties.

On that subject Maeda showed nerve and composure to net the decisive penalty in the League Cup Final, that came after he showed a real strikers instinct to cut through Phil Clement’s defence, draw Jack Butland and find the net.

That goal showed everything that you’d want from a striker but despite the evidence Rodgers feels that Maeda is primarily a wide player for emergency use only as a striker.

Asked about switching Maeda to playing as a striker the Celtic boss was fairly adamant it wasn’t his Plan A:

He can do that, but I would still want to bring in another striker. I think he can play there.

If you look at Daizen’s numbers, I’m not sure exactly what they are. But when he arrived here, he came in here with something like 23 goals in 30-odd games. So he’s a different profile of striker.

But the two games I’ve played him in as a striker, he’s scored five goals as a striker. At Yokohama, he scored a hat-trick, and then earlier in the season against Hibs when Kyogo didn’t play, he scored two goals and was a threat.

So he will get goals. What’s been really nice is to see the numbers that he’s able to get off the side but I still think that we would need another striker in. Definitely we would want to bring in someone else.

Those League Cup goals came in the opening 15 minutes of the match against Hibs but that fixture was the last time that he played through the middle.

Regardless of who is involved in Recruitment it seems that succession planning is a long running problem at Celtic. At today’s media conference Rodgers claimed that Kyogo had expressed a wish to leave months ago.

If that was the case they are leaving things kind of late to bring in a replacement. Rennes have shown that they can force through a transfer at a time that suits them but Celtic seem unable to install the same level of urgency to their transfer activities.

Other than Mathias Kvistgaarden there is very little in the way of strikers being linked with Celtic, in the case of the Brondy striker this is the fourth successive window that he has been discussed as a Celtic target.

Whether there is substance to the speculation this time remains to be seen, reheating previous transfer stories is a stable part of the sports news industry.

Paul Tisdale has been working with Rodgers since the summer transfer window, in the autumn his role as Head of Football Operations was announced.

Strikers earn their reputations by delivering goals on the big occasions, having known of and sold Kyogo the spotlight is on Rodgers and Tisdale to come up with a striker superior to the Japanese hero with two Champions League ties coming up on 11/12 and 18/19 February.

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Celtic fans react to heart-breaking images as Kyogo prepares to depart

The sudden departure of Kyogo Furuhashi has completely overshadowed Celtic’s 1-0 win over YB Bern to secure a place in the Champions League Round of 16 Play Offs.

Within an hour of the final whistle last night there were credible reports that a £10m deal had been ironed out, it seems that the move hinged on Celtic beating the Swiss champions with next week’s match at Aston Villa no longer critical.

Over three and a half seasons the Celtic support has become attached to the Japanese striker, coming out of Lockdown a hero was needed to lift the gloom with the smiling wee guy from Vissel Kobe fitting the bill.

He made a quiet debut off the bench away to Hearts in August 2021, scored away to Jablonec then announced his arrival with a hat-trick on his Celtic Park debut in front of 24,000 fans against Dundee as the capacity of the stadium slowly returned to normal.

A total of 85 goals followed but there are many more memories with eight trophy wins along the way, kicked off with a double against Hibs in the 2021 League Cup Final.

Things were still fragile under Ange Postecoglou, Paul Hanlon put the Edinburgh side in front. Within a minute and with Pyro sweeping the pitch Kyogo had equalised, he rattled in the winner in the 72^nd minute despite going into the match with serious concerns over his hamstring problem.

That injury flared up again, Kyogo missed three months of the season but Giorgos Giakoumakis took on the torch to return the SPFL trophy back to Celtic Park.

https://t.co/jbwyOVvMdo pic.twitter.com/W4lqyOHw20
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) January 23, 2025

Back to full fitness, excepting his managed shoulder issue, Kyogo stamped his name all over the 2022/23 season with 34 goals despite the disappointment of being left out of the Japan squad for the World Cup Finals.

After some bit part performances in the Glasgow Derby he came alive in the fixture during 2023 spelling the end for the short lived Micky Beale Revolution, including the unique accolade of scoring in the Derby fixture at both ends of Hampden, Ibrox and Celtic Park.

The run started with an 87^th minute equaliser at Ibrox in a 2-2 draw in January which was followed by goals either side of half time in the League Cup Final as the first instalment of the Treble was delivered.

At the start of April there was another double as a 3-2 victory sent Celtic 12 points clear in the SPFL Premiership, he didn’t score in the Scottish Cup Semi Final but Jota did before the trophy was delivered by beating Inverness Caley Thistle.

In September 2023 Kyogo’s lightening reactions silenced Ibrox with Beale gone by the end of the month.

Phil Clement got a sample of Kyogo in his Glasgow Derby with a brilliant chip shot around Super Jack Butland helping Celtic to a 2-1 win. It was Kyogo’s seventh goal in the fixture over the course of the year.

The final chapter was to help Celtic to progress in the Champions League last night with a win over YB Bern, VAR denied him on three occasions of what would have been a farewell goal. It took a lot of guts to go through that match knowing that the following day he was booked onto a flight to France.

Today there have been pictures at Glasgow Airport and Rennes Airport to signal a very low key departure for one of the most popular Celtic players of this century.

We must have a replacement we are going in to the Dundee game with idah and Kenny don’t have a problem but we need another hope idah can start scoring again
— David Caw (@davidcaw1987) January 23, 2025

You can tell that from a side on photo from 50 yards away. Remarkable 😂
— FD (@F_Dev1888) January 23, 2025

Why post this ?
All I want is a bag of cans and Kyogo back.
— CelticFirst (@CELTlC67) January 23, 2025

Dembele hurt
Edouard hurt
Ange hurt
Jota hurt
Mat O’Riley hurt
But kyogo I can’t begin to explain how much this’ll hurt
— JM 🇻🇦 (@JM1888_) January 23, 2025

Gutted. Gonna miss the wee 🇯🇵 🍄. What a player he was for us. But good business for the accountant I suppose. There BETTER be a replacement lined up.
— Glasgow’s Green & White (@top_tipz) January 23, 2025