Peter Grant has leapt to the defence of Celtic striker, Kyogo Furuhashi after the Japanese scored a hat trick in last night’s friendly against Queen’s Park.
Impressing Brendan Rodgers in last night’s win over Queen’s Park, Kyogo‘s goalscoring form dropped off last season from the heady days under Ange Postecoglou.
Netting 19 times in 50 outings for Celtic under Rodgers, that is the lowest tally the Japanese striker has notched up since his move to Glasgow back in 2021.
In his maiden season, Kyogo scored 19 goals in 33 appearances as he fell just short of Giorgos Giakoumakis who was Celtic’s top goalscorer that season but followed that up with 34 goals in the following treble-winning year.
Speaking about Kyogo during last night’s match, Peter Grant addressed the reasons why the Celtic striker wasn’t as prolific last season and he said it had nothing to do with his form.
Kyogo’s ‘service’ at Celtic is lacking
Kyogo has now notched four goals this pre-season as Grant explained the real reason the Celtic striker wasn’t as prolific under Rodgers last term.
Grant said [Celtic TV], “When we talk about strikers, one thing they love to do is hit the back of the net. So what they want to do is to continue to play, continue to score goals and what you’ve got to do is give them opportunities to score.
“People kept saying Kyogo, last season, was out of form. For me, I didn’t think he got the service quickly enough.
“And when he gets service, that’s exactly what he does, he puts the ball in the back of the net and long may that continue.”
It’s very hard to argue against Grant’s assessment because if you look at who was supplying Kyogo during the Postecoglou years, it’s obvious why his goals dried up at points.
Having players like Jota, Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda supplying the ammunition would be any striker’s dream.
And whilst Celtic still have Maeda, they replaced Abada and Jota with players who are not of the same calibre.
Hopefully, Kyogo’s goals so far give him a big confidence boost heading into the USA Summer Tour and if Rodgers can find another winger to help supply him, the Japanese striker could be in for another big season at Parkhead.