Celtic’s board showed their faith in manager Brendan Rodgers during the recent summer transfer window with the money that they spent on incoming signings.
The Hoops agreed a club-record fee of £11m to sign central midfielder Arne Engels from Bundesliga side Augsburg to bolster their options in the middle of the park.
A new centre-forward was also needed, after Hyeon-gyu Oh’s permanent move to Genk, and the club splashed the cash to re-sign Adam Idah for Rodgers.
Appearances
15
Starts
5
Goals
8
Big chances missed
7
Conversion rate
27%
Minutes per goal
76
As you can see in the table above, the Ireland international made a big impact in the final third during his loan spell in Glasgow during the second half of last season, with eight goals in five Scottish Premiership starts.
That convinced the Hoops to agree a deal worth a reported £9.5m, £8.5m of which is guaranteed, which could make him the second most expensive addition in the club’s history behind the £11m for Engels, if those add-ons are achieved.
Despite the big money spent on the 6 foot 3 marksman, Kyogo Furuhashi has once again started the season as Celtic’s first-choice centre-forward.
Kyogo Furuhashi's form under Brendan Rodgers
The Japan international plundered an exceptional 27 goals in 31 starts in the Premiership during the 2022/23 campaign under Ange Postecoglou, prior to Rodgers’ return last summer.
He had showcased his ability to find the back of the net on a consistent basis in the Scottish top-flight and the Northern Irish boss may have been excited about what they could achieve together at Parkhead.
Unfortunately, Kyogo’s form fell off significantly under Rodgers and he has failed to replicate his performances from the 2022/23 season since then.
Appearances
36
38
Goals
27
14
Minutes per goal
86
179
Big chances missed
16
24
Conversion rate
31%
14%
As you can see in the table above, the Japanese forward could not hit more than 20 goals in the 2023/24 campaign, after his sublime exploits the previous year.
It was not down to the quality of chances that were created for him, however, as Kyogo missed eight more ‘big chances’ along the way to scoring 13 fewer goals.
Despite his struggles last term, and the signing of Idah, the 29-year-old forward has started the current campaign as the first-choice number nine.
Kyogo scored his first goal of the season against Rangers, with a clever finish from distance past Jack Butland, and has produced one goal and one assist in four games in all competitions so far.
One former Celtic player, who was sold by Rodgers last year, who is currently outscoring the Japan international this season is Swiss flop Albian Ajeti.
Celtic's Albian Ajeti nightmare
In the summer of 2020, then-Hoops manager Neil Lennon swooped to sign the Switzerland international from Premier League side West Ham United.
The Scottish giants splashed out a fee of £5m to sign the striker, who took a wage cut on his £60k-per-week salary, on a four-year contract at Parkhead.
Ajeti had failed to provide a single goal or assist in 12 appearances for the Hammers in all competitions during his time in England, but that did not put Lennon or Celtic off spending £5m on the 23-year-old.
The young attacker was given plenty of opportunities to shine by the Hoops boss in his first season, with 30 appearances in all competitions during the 2020/21 campaign.
Ajeti produced an unremarkable return of six goals and four assists in those 30 outings, as he failed to live up to his £5m price tag and did not do enough to convince Ange Postecoglou, who arrived at the end of that term, that he was good enough to feature regularly.
The Australian boss only handed him 17 appearances during the 2021/22 season and the Swiss forward managed three goals and one assist in that time.
Postecoglou then sent him out on loan to Sturm Graz, where he produced four goals and one assist in 23 matches, before Rodgers arrived last summer and opted to cash in on the striker.
In September 2023, Turkish side Gaziantep swooped in to sign the centre-forward for a reported fee of £500k – a sizeable loss on the £5m Celtic paid for him.
What happened to Albian Ajeti
The now-27-year-old striker currently plays for Swiss giants Basel in his home country after a relatively short spell with Gaziantep in Turkey.
Ajeti scored one goal in five matches for the Super Lig outfit before being allowed to join Basel on a free transfer at the start of February this year.
The £5m Celtic flop endured a rough start to his second stint with the Swiss side, scoring one goal in six matches in the second half of last season, but has started the current campaign on fire.
In fact, Ajeti is currently outscoring Kyogo Furuhashi at league level and in all competitions with his impressive start to the season for Basel.
The Switzerland international has finally hit his stride as both a scorer and a creator of goals after a difficult few years at West Ham, Celtic, and Gaziantep.
Appearances
6
4
Goals
4
1
Big chances missed
1
6
Assists
3
1
Big chances created
5
0
As you can see in the table above, Ajeti has scored three more goals and missed five fewer ‘big chances’ than Kyogo at league level this season.
He has also created five more ‘big chances’ and registered three two more assists, which shows that the forward has been more of an asset to his team as a creative threat in the centre-forward position.
Along with his outstanding performances in the Super League, Ajeti produced two goals and one assist in one Swiss Cup outing last month, which means that the striker has racked up six goals and four assists in seven matches in all competitions.
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It will now be interesting to see how Kyogo and Ajeti compare by the end of the 2024/25 campaign, and if the ex-Celtic flop can continue his fine form.
