Celtic made a bold decision in the January transfer window at the start of this year when they opted to sell Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes for a reported fee of £10m.
The Japan international scored 85 goals in 165 matches in all competitions for the Scottish giants during his time at Parkhead, including 34 goals in the 2022/23 campaign.
Despite losing the prolific goalscorer midway through the campaign, the Hoops opted against dipping into the market to sign a replacement for him, although they were linked with an interest in Danish forward Mathias Kvistgaarden.
What Mathias Kvistgaarden could bring to Celtic
The Scottish Premiership champions reportedly made an approach to sign the Brondby striker in January, but failed to get a deal over the line for him, and are reportedly looking at him once again ahead of the summer.
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If the Hoops do decide to go through with a swoop for him ahead of next season, Kvistgaarden could be an exciting addition to the squad, considering his impressive record in Denmark.
The 23-year-old striker has scored 16 goals, and missed 14 ‘big chances’, in 24 starts in the Danish Superliga, and scored 22 goals in all competitions for Brondby, which suggests that he could arrive as a big goalscoring threat at an age where he still has time left to develop and improve.
His form has led to Transfermarkt valuing the forward at £6.7m at the time of writing (20/05/2025), which is even lower than the player Celtic essentially replaced Kyogo with, Daizen Maeda.
Rodgers has hit the jackpot with Daizen Maeda
The Japan international has played on the wing for the majority of his Celtic career, but Kyogo’s move to Rennes in January provided him with an opportunity to play more games as a striker.
He had only played two matches as a centre-forward in all competitions before the turn of the year, and has since played eight times in that role, splitting number nine duties with Adam Idah.
Left wing
35
16
8
Centre-forward
10
14
4
Right wing
1
2
0
As you can see in the table above, that change in position has been a masterstroke by Brendan Rodgers, who has hit the jackpot with the forward, because he has been directly involved in 18 goals in just ten games as a striker.
His market value has also soared as a result of that change. Maeda was valued at £6.7m, as much as Kvistgaarden, in December 2024, and is now valued at £9.3m by Transfermarkt at the time of writing, which shows that the versatile star is now worth even more than the Celtic transfer target.
The Japanese whiz, who was described as “unbelievable” by Rodgers, has thrived due to the positional change that the manager opted to make after Kyogo left, and has proven himself to be more than capable of being a starting centre-forward for Celtic.
Therefore, the Hoops have hit the jackpot with the 27-year-old star, who may have just alleviated the need to splash the cash on Kvistgaarden this summer, as the club now have him and Idah available to lead the line heading into next season.
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