Celtic themselves with a gap in their strikeforce in the January transfer window when they decided to cash in on Japan international Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Scottish Premiership leaders sold the 30-year-old centre-forward to Ligue 1 side Rennes for a reported fee of £10m and did not opt to dip into the market to land a direct replacement for him.
That was despite his return of 85 goals in 165 matches for the club in all competitions during his time at Parkhead, as they decided that Adam Idah and Daizen Maeda had enough between them to cover the centre-forward position.
The performances of both of those strikers this season suggest that Celtic have not suffered as a result of Kyogo’s exit from the Scottish giants.
Why Celtic do not miss Kyogo Furuhashi
Maeda has typically been deployed on the flanks as a Celtic player but Kyogo’s move to France has provided him with an opportunity to play more games through the middle.
The Japan international has racked up an eye-catching 28 goals and nine assists in 43 matches in all competitions, averaging a goal every 119 minutes for the Hoops.
Idah, meanwhile, has scored 14 goals and provided one assist in 43 matches for Celtic, averaging a goal every 134 minutes as a centre-forward.
Whereas, Kyogo has scored 12 goals in 36 games for the Hoops and Rennes combined this season, averaging a strike every 178 minutes.
These statistics suggest that Celtic do not miss the Ligue 1 striker because Idah and Maeda have scored more frequently than him this season. However, there is a former Parkhead number nine who is scoring even more frequently than all three of them – Hyeon-gyu Oh.
Hyeon-gyu Oh’s goal return since leaving Celtic
In the summer of 2024, Brendan Rodgers decided to move on from the South Korea international, after 18 months in Glasgow, by selling him to Genk in a reported £4.5m deal.
That came after the former Suwon Bluewings number nine had scored 12 goals in 47 matches for the Scottish giants in all competitions, including 11 goals in 36 Premiership outings.
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Since his move away from Parkhead, Oh has struggled for consistent game time in Belgium. The 23-year-old centre-forward has only played 671 minutes for Genk across all competitions but has scored an impressive ten goals in that time.
This means that the former Celtic man has averaged a goal every 67 minutes this season, which is an incredibly prolific return and shows that he has scored even more frequently than Maeda, Kyogo, and Idah when he has been on the pitch.
|
24/25 season |
Oh (Pro League) |
Idah (Premiership) |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
27 |
27 |
|
Starts |
2 |
15 |
|
Goals |
7 |
8 |
|
Big chances missed |
4 |
13 |
|
Minutes per goal |
69 |
164 |
|
Conversion rate |
23% |
15% |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
||
As you can see in the table above, Oh has also been more clinical than Idah at league level this season, after the Ireland international was signed permanently to replace the South Korean forward.
Celtic, however, do have two excellent forwards in the Irish marksman and Maeda, who have both averaged more than a goal every other 90 minutes on average, and they may not regret the decisions that led to them ending up with those two options.
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It is, though, nice to see Oh doing well for himself since moving on from Parkhead, even if he is not starting games on a regular basis, and it will be interesting to see how the striker fares in the future.
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