Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu has praised Kyogo Furuhashi's achievements for Celtic this season...just a day after a new snub to the Hoops star.
Furuhashi is top scorer in the Premiership with 23 league goals and is preparing for another Old Firm clash on Sunday after scoring five times in his last three games against Rangers.
But Moriyasu omitted him for the World Cup and his squad for two friendlies in March and it was revealed this week he has no plans to visit Glasgow during his current tour of Europe.
He has been to watch a game in England, two matches in Germany and will move to Spain next before returning next month.
But he's well aware of Furuhashi's achievements after praising the goalscoring exploits of the Hoops hero, Cercle Brugge striker Ayase Ueda and Real Sociedad hitman Takefusa Kubo.
He said: "I think what Kyogo, Ayase and Takefusa have done have been wonderful. Each of them have scored a lot of goals this season.
"What I enjoy is the fact that these three players all have such high aspirations and have continued to make progress with their clubs.
"I think that they are steadily showing us a new landscape for Japan and for the Japanese people. So, I'm very happy for them.
"At the same time, I think that the development and true value of Japanese football is also connected to their achievements.
"There is no doubt that they have their individual qualities, but the improvement of Japanese football has led to the players being able to perform well on the world stage.
"I think it's a testament to the rapid growth of the J-League too."
Meanwhile, former Celtic manager Neil Lennon revealed two other players broke cross-border travel restrictions at the same time as Boli Bolingoli as he stressed the huge impact the pandemic had on his final season at Parkhead.
The Hoops had two matches postponed on the orders of the Scottish Government in August 2020 after it emerged that Belgian defender Bolingoli had flown to Spain and back without telling anyone before playing against Kilmarnock several days later.
The furore set the tone for a difficult season which saw Celtic fall short of their quest for a record 10th consecutive title and miss out on any silverware, although they clinched the treble with victory over Hearts in the previous season’s delayed Scottish Cup final.
Lennon told PLZ Soccer: “We followed the protocols to an nth degree: five different dressing rooms at the training ground then the players had to go home and stay in.
“You had the Bolingoli incident at the start of the season. We said ‘don’t leave Glasgow’ and he gets on a flight to Spain for a day. And then he comes back and says ‘I didn’t go to Spain, I went to Belgium’. He said ‘I went to Andorra and then I drove over the border to Belgium to see my family’.
“And then two hours later he rings me and says ‘actually, I went to Marbella for the day’.
“And then I had a meeting with the players. ‘Did anyone else leave Glasgow?’ No. And then later on I get two phone calls from players, I’m not going to say who. ‘Gaffer, I was in Amsterdam’. ‘I was in Manchester’. I was like ‘guys, come on’.
“When you look back on it, it was really difficult for them. They missed their families, there were no restaurants, there was no social interaction. They broke the rules and I get it now.”
