The Celtic star showed why his value has already increased by 100 percent

Not even the bitterly cold conditions in Dingwall can stop this glow Celtic team right now, with the Scottish champions cruising to a 4-1 win over Ross County to extend their massive lead at Premiership summit.

January is still in its infancy Brendan Rodgers‘ men already look to have both hands on the title, with Saturday’s triumph ensuring the Hoops are now 18 points clear of bitter rivals Rangers, following the Ibrox side’s draw away to Dundee in midweek.

It must be said, however, that it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Parkhead side against Don Cowie, as Jordan White canceled out Kyogo Furuhashiopened from the spot, after a clumsy challenge from Alistair Johnston.

To their credit, as they always do, the league leaders rallied and put the game to bed late on, with Kyogo grabbing their second of the game in the 81st minute, before Arne Engels and Luke McCowan rubbed further salt into the home wounds. in referee compensation.

Clearly far from a perfect performance, but Rodgers – who was without Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda – will no doubt be impressed by at least a handful of his stars, including Kyog.

Kyogo’s game in numbers against Ross County

It would be foolish not to focus on Celtic’s two-goal hero, with the Japanese marksman looking razor sharp in his new role, having operated out of Adam Idaho’s central attacking spot.

Appearing to have been given permission to roam and drop deep to get into the game, the 29-year-old – who is just average 13.7 touches per game in the league this season – recorded 53 touches this time, according to Sofascoreand Rodgers found a new solution to fill the void of Kuhn and Maeda.

Having initially come close to scoring, only to see his close-range effort saved by the impressive Jordan Amissah, the former Vissel Kobe man then grabbed his chance just before the break, expertly pouncing on Johnston’s cross.

Celtic’s number eight again benefited from a perfect delivery late on when he met Engels’ cross to head home to take his tally to 85 goals in 162 games for the club to date.

While transfer rumors continue to swirl – in the middle of that bizarre story transfer to Atlanta United – hopefully Kyogo will stay in place after the February deadline.

Meanwhile, the in-demand striker wasn’t the only one attracting attention on Saturday afternoon, with the club’s record goalscorer, Engels, also pulling the strings in the center of the park.

Engels showed why its value soared

Tasked to replace Matt O’Riley his £11m arrival from Club Brugge, the Belgian playmaker has certainly risen to the challenge in recent months and his performance away to Dingwall was particularly influential.

Indeed, as noted above, the 21-year-old produced a wonderful, reverse pass to pick Kyoga out for 2-1, while he then showed real character to convert from the penalty spot at the second attempt, after first being denied by the charging Amissah.

Engels – who now has six goals to his name in a Celtic shirt – was also a real creative valve throughout the 90 minutes as he registered a total of five key passes from his 104 touches, also enjoying a solid 86% passing accuracy.

While Kyogo was freeing up space, the youngster also regularly went into that right channel to make his mark, having attempted a total of 11 crosses. It was, in fact, an omnipresent representation of the man in the middle.

Thus, it is not without reason that Engels can apparently boast of a large market value, s CIES football observatory valuing him at as much as €26m (£22m), a 100% increase on his initial fee of £11m.

Not that Rodgers and company will be looking to cash in on his stay in Glasgow so quickly, but that incredible surge suggests that perhaps Celtic have actually struck a bargain, even after spending so much.