Former Celtic defender Mark Wilson believes that Ange Postecoglou will want to take Kyogo Furuhashi with him to Tottenham as the Japanese forward would demonstrate to the Spurs squad what the Australian expects of them.
Furuhashi won the Player of the Year Award and the Golden Boot in Scotland after finishing the 2022-23 campaign with 34 goals across all competitions (Trasnfermarkt).
The Scottish Sun reported last week that it is ‘widely expected’ that Postecoglou will launch a bid to take the Japan international with him to Tottenham.
The report claimed that the 28-year-old is not only attracting interest from Spurs but also from Serie A outfit Lazio, while some French and Spanish clubs are also monitoring his situation.
The North Londoners are not the only Premier League side eyeing with Celtic star, with Football Insider reporting a few days ago that Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are also ready to offer him a route to England.
Wilson thinks Postecoglou could come for Furuhashi
Wilson would not be surprised if Tottenham come for Furuhashi, asserting that Postecoglou would want the striker to demonstrate to Harry Kane and co how to press from the front.
The pundit told The Herald: “I wouldn’t like to see any of them going out the door.
“I believe they give Celtic the best chance of retaining the title against a Rangers that, in my opinion, is definitely going to be better than we’ve seen.
“It also gives them the best opportunity in the Champions League. So, none of them I would like to see leaving. But who could I see him coming for? The obvious one is Kyogo.
“Kyogo was brought in and was the catalyst for everything that happened at Celtic. Ange Postecoglou made everybody aware of that, Kyogo was the signing that kicked everything off.
“Even when you hear some of the players talking about Kyogo; the way he plays and the character he is, he really does set the tone for a Postecoglou team. You can understand why he would look at him.
“He would maybe not be the star striker if Harry Kane’s still kicking about, but as someone who can show the others how Postecoglou wants to play.
“He would press from the front and you don’t get much better than the Kyogo. Kyogo’s not the finished article but he’s one of the best strikers I’ve seen up here for a long, long time with his all-round game.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Ange does make a bid for him. Obviously, Celtic supporters wouldn’t thank him for that!
“With players like Kyogo we tend to talk about the physicality side and could he hack it? He’s not as big as Odsonne Edouard, physically, or Moussa Dembele who was linked with the Premier League and could probably have handled himself. That would be the only question mark.
“But when you can move like Kyogo and work unselfishly like him, of course, you’ve got a chance because nobody likes to play against that. The barometer was the Champions League games, where you could see even the top defences struggled at times with him.
“If he was at Premier League standard, the Celtic fans wouldn’t want to sell him for anything less than £ 50m – that’s a bargain for strikers in England who can do the full package.
“You’ll never get anything like that up here in Scotland, but if Postecoglou does bid I think it’ll be generous in comparison to what we’ve seen here before.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Furuhashi is a tireless presser and evidently too good for the Scottish Premiership, the jury is out on whether he is good enough for the Premier League, particularly a club with top-four aspirations.
Given the gulf between the two divisions, I do not see Postecoglou going in for any Celtic player this summer.
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