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The great unanswered question over the sale of Kyogo

Opinion 5 hours ago
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As another mysterious Celtic transfer window is rolled up and packed away one question about the transfer of Kyogo Furuhashi remains unanswered.

Who had the final say in agreeing his move to Rennes?

Was it Brendan Rodgers or someone else? CEO Mchael Nicholson or his mentor Peter Lawwell?

Within an hour of the final whistle against YB Bern on January 22 it was as good as a done deal, multiple French outlets were reporting it as were the favoured Scottish messengers alongside the sweetener that Celtic were signing Jota.

Clearly the announcement was held back dependent on the outcome of the match against the Swiss champions, with the victory secured the final jigsaw pieces were put in place for a transfer that gets more and more baffling by the day.

It is unlikely that Celtic will lose the SPFL title without Kyogo but the credibility of the club is at stake, supporters are doubting their motives while other clubs and agents are noting that even towards the end of January further boosting the bank balance is the priority over the competitiveness of the team on the park.

Did Rodgers agree to the transfer in the full expectation that a replacement striker was on the way?

Did Nicholson/Celtic decide to crack on with the transfer hoping for a replacement but complacent enough that a double digit lead will be enough to secure the SPFL title for this season.

Neither answer is very appetising.

Kyogo Furuhashi

If anyone should know how slack and unreliable the Celtic board are it is Rodgers, last week at Villa Park he was forced to relive the painful events of 2018 regarding John McGinn.

Not only did Celtic fail to secure the signing of a former Season Ticket holder but in the final days of August Moussa Dembele was sold for £20m with no replacement brought in. Rodgers was left with the fragile talent of Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard to get the goals while a huge transfer surplus was created. Southampton paid £8m for Stuart Armstrong, Celtic finally offered half of that to Hibs for McGinn once he’d been given the VIP treatment from Aston Villa.

With those memories painfully fresh, even with bridges rebuilt since his February 2019 departure, it is hard to see Rodgers agreeing to selling Kyogo without the firmest of assurances that a replacement striker was about to be signed.

In that case either Nicholson failed to complete the expected signing or Celtic decided that the £10m offer from Rennes was too good to discuss with their manager.

The true story is unlikely to emerge but it shouldn’t take too long for other versions to surface.

Rodgers has tried a couple of times to claim that Kyogo wanted to leave- clearly not so strongly that he would have refused to play in the match against YB Bern.

Clearly Rodgers had enough faith to start Kyogo in what could be argued was the most important match of the season, one that secured progress from the group stage of the Champions League.

What really happened with McGinn, Marian Shved and Leicester City in the 2018/19 season has never fully emerged, the circumstances of Kyogo’s exit will never be uncovered, hopefully the consequences won’t be as savage and painful.

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STUNNING LEVEL OF INCOMPETENCE-NICHOLSON CALLED OUT OVER TRANSFER NIGHTMAREjjjjjjjjjjjj

Unfortunately for Jeffrey Schlupp the announcement of his signing was simply a vehicle for Celtic fans to take out their frustration and anger over a shambolic January transfer window.

The former Crystal Palace man has been welcomed by most fans, he does provide cover for some glaring holes in the squad but not even the boards biggest apologists can spin this window as one that strengthened the Celtic squad.

In the rawest of numbers two players involved in the win over YB Bern have been sold while Jota has returned to Celtic alongside Schlupp.

In terms of first team numbers nothing has changed but having sold 50% of the strikers used in the SPFL Premiership at a time when Plan B has a two match UEFA ban it is obvious that joined up thinking isn’t in Michael Nicholson’s skill-set.

The Celtic CEO likes to hide away from the spotlight, whether he likes it or not he is now the target for angry fans alongside his mentor, the Chairman that groomed him in his own image.

The Transfer Window just finished really should have been straightforward, after the disastrous Mark Lawwell Production of Summer 2023 Brendan Rodgers imposed himself, said no to projects as Nicolas Kuhn, Adam Idah, Kasper Schmeichel, Auston Trusty, Arne Engels and Luke McCowan transformed Celtic.

More of the same please, Michael.

Players over 22 for starters, with a bit of experience and certainly ambition. Generally you are looking at £6m plus which was previously nose bleed territory for the Celtic board who preferred crossing their fingers that a £2-3m punts might somehow come good.

Rodgers made it known that a winger was a priority, Yang Hyun-jun and Luis Palma were as sub-standard as the rest of the summer 2023 signings, no-one seriously anticipated the squad being weakened but incredibly that is what happened.

The warning signs started flashing as fans returned from the 1-0 Champions League win over YB Bern. Celebrations and expectations were trampled into the ground with the clear message that another £10m in the bank was more valued than Kyogo Furuhashi on the team sheet.

Some fans assumed that this had only been agreed because a replacement was lined up, that is what competent clubs do after all.

The January Transfer Window is supposedly notoriously difficult but Rennes were able to breeze into the Celtic dressing room and take away the managers first choice striker with at least three games still to be played in the Champions League.

Kyogo’s exit was played out over a number of days, no replacement was on the horizon, the official announcement was twinned with the welcome signing of Jota but it left Celtic a striker short.

Mathias Kvistgaarden, Kelechi Iheanach, David Strelec and even Danny Ings and Jamie Vardy were linked with Celtic but Nicholson was unable to complete the signing of any of them.

At Motherwell on Sunday Rodgers sent out a last despairing plea to his CEO to do his job, the Herald reported the Celtic boss saying:

My feeling was always once Kyogo was gone, was to have someone else to come in. I don’t know exactly where it’s at at this moment, but I’d be hopeful that we can do that.

But the demand is still there to improve the squad. We have to make sure that there’s constant improvement. That’s been clear. I don’t need to fall out with anyone over it.

Nicholson chuckled and ignored it, looking to his mentor and Chairman for approval.

To his credit the mess at left-back has been covered by the signing of Schlupp, that deal rectifies the mess created by waiting on Kieran Tierney, letting Greg Taylor run down his contract and take Alex Valle on loan with Barcelona having a January recall option.

Since becoming CEO in September 2021 Nicholson has only appeared once in front of the media, as a sideshow when Rodgers returned as manager in June 2023.

The manager’s expectations haven’t been delivered, he is left on his own to make the best of what he has to work with.

Now more than halfway through his three year contract negotiations over an extended contract for a man with a 90% domestic success rate and who delivers record-breaking turnover are bound to be demanding.

If Dermot Desmond wants to retain Rodgers beyond 2026 surely he has to be thinking of a serious shake up of his Executive team if he is to avoid the challenging task of recruiting a manager to succeed Rodgers, last time around it spectacularly unravelled 18 months later.

P Lawwell, February 2023:

The Board recognises the inherent inefficiencies of holding excess cash, and, in conjunction with other cash commitments, the importance of investing in strengthening the team to deliver football success. The Board shares the frustrations of the supporters regarding the less than anticipated activity in the recent transfer window.

 

 

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