Kyogo Furuhashi has been voted into Japan's best XI for last year by their players' association...despite being snubbed for the World Cup.
The Celtic ace was a surprise omission from the Qatar tournament and was devastated to not make the final squad chosen by manager Hajime Moriyasu.
But he's been handed a huge accolade by his fellow pros after being named in Japan's Team of the Year by the Japanese Professional Football Players Association - the only player chosen who wasn't selected for the World Cup squad.
Japanese PFA chairman Maya Yoshida said: "There are some subtle differences between the players selected by coach Moriyasu and I think it's interesting that the other players chose them objectively."
While Kyogo made the cut, Celtic team-mate Daizen Maeda - who was at the World Cup - was not included in the best XI.
Japan's Team of 2022 was: Daniel Schmidt (Sint-Truiden); Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal); Daichi Kamata (Eintracht Frankfurt), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton); Takuma Asano (Bochum), Junya Ito (Reims), Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic).
Our Celtic Digest newsletter brings exclusive content directly to you rather than solely through the website. You can already find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram but we will also send bespoke opinion pieces and special features directly to your email inbox every evening. Not only will you receive this article from Sean Martin, Tony Haggerty or Aidan Macdonald (or, sometimes, from all three) but you will also get easy access to our best content from the last 24 hours too. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening at Ange Postecoglou’s Scottish champions. To sign up, simply take five seconds to type in your email here. Simple!