KYOGO FURUHASHI BREAKS THE NEWS: Rennes sign Japan international striker from Celtic in £10m deal | Football news
Striker Kyogo Furuhashi has left Celtic for French club Stade Rennes in a £10m move.
The 30-year-old leaves the Scottish Premiership champions three-and-a-half years after former manager Ange Postecoglou brought him to J League side Vissel Kobe.
In 165 appearances he scored 85 goals for the Hoops, winning three Premiership titles, three League Cups and the Scottish Cup twice.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers revealed Kyogo told him “a number of months ago” he wanted to move to one of Europe’s top five leagues after talks with Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu, who has previously publicly criticized the Scottish premiership’s quality.
He signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with the points sitting 17th in Ligue 1.
Celtic have added forward replacement Kyogo in this transfer window, Earlier announcing the contract to return Jot to the club.
Rodgers said: “Kyogo expressed an interest in leaving a few months ago and then that expression gets stronger and then he gets to the stage where he obviously wants to leave very much.
“Then, unfortunately, we have to do a deal and look to get it done for him. He’s been an incredible club player for the three-and-a-half years he’s been here and he’s not someone we wanted to lose, but we have to accept where he is.
“You can achieve a lot of things here at the Celtics. The league may not be one of the top five leagues in the world, but this is a league where you can really develop and showcase your talent at the highest level.
“When I arrived here, Kyogo had not scored in the Champions League. If he leaves, he has shown that he can play at that level.
“Within the Japanese team, there are obviously a lot of really good players, but I think you can show that by being here and winning and playing the kind of football we play and playing at the highest level, that you can still achieve everything you would like to.
“There can be problems around time, but it’s not something that just happened to us. We understand that we’re going to lose him and we understand that we have to replace that quality to move the team forward.
“It’s something that’s been going on for a while and hopefully we can go out the window with stronger teams.”
Live Transfer Center! Offers, rumours, news on your phone 📱
January transfer is OPEN!
Follow all the latest offers, news and rumors on the ‘Transfers’ section The Sky Sports app!
Looking for news about Your club? Find dedicated streaming sites for the Scottish Premiership
