Celtic interim head coach Martin O’Neill has confirmed that Birmingham City forward Kyogo Furuhashi is unlikely to return to the club on a loan deal in January.
The 30-year-old has been strongly linked with a move back to Celtic Park in recent days, as the club continues its search for a new central striker and amid his difficulties at Birmingham. However, O’Neill has acknowledged that any agreement now appears improbable.
“I think that would be unlikely. Everything is premature,” the Celtic caretaker manager revealed to reporters ahead of his first match back in charge versus Dundee United on Saturday (as per The Daily Record).
“I think there’s a viewpoint that he wants to prove himself at Birmingham, which is no surprise.”
Kyogo spent three-and-a-half seasons at Celtic before completing a move to Stade Rennais last January, netting 85 goals in 165 appearances and playing a key role in the Hoops lifting nine trophies during that spell. However, a dramatic reunion now looks doubtful, despite early confidence that a deal could materialise.
Birmingham respond to Kyogo transfer speculation:
Birmingham head coach Chris Davies has also suggested that he expects Kyogo to remain at St Andrew’s this month, despite the forward still waiting to score his first Championship goal for the club.
“Kyogo is our player, who has been playing more matches recently than he has done in the last few months,” Davies told reporters when asked about the Japan star’s future (via BBC Sport).
“The plan is that Kyogo continues in that vein – gets his goals and gets his game moving. So I’ll support him to do that.
“We’ve had no discussions at the moment about anything other than Kyogo giving his best and doing his best for Birmingham City.
“Personally, I think he’s going to stay here and potentially battle through whatever comes in front of him.”
Davies continued: “Kyogo cannot be doing any more in terms of his own efforts with the club. So we’ve been supporting him and we’ll be going along with that.
“Again though, like a lot of things, we’ll obviously see as things progress through January where everyone is and make sure everyone is on the same page.
“But, certainly at this moment in time, Kyogo is an important player in the squad and will continue to be so.”