Kyogo Furuhashi says he wants fellow striker Adam Idah to stay at Celtic, despite the Irishman being sure to provide stiff competition to lead the line for Brendan Rodgers’ side if he does make a permanent move to Glasgow.
Idah has been a success at Celtic since his unheralded arrival on loan from Norwich City in January, and hit a last-minute winner against Rangers after climbing off the bench to replace Kyogo in the Scottish Cup final.
It is believed that it would take a fee in the region of £6m to land the Republic of Ireland internationalist on a permanent deal, with Celtic manager Rodgers saying after the match at Hampden on Saturday that he hopes to bring him back to the club next season after being the ‘catalyst’ for their success in the second half of the campaign.
Kyogo came under scrutiny at times this term after failing to hit the heights of his previous two seasons at the club, and despite some crucial goals in the final weeks of the Premiership title race, had another quiet afternoon at the national stadium.
Despite the threat to his own position that Idah’s presence in the squad would provide though, Kyogo would be delighted to see him return to Celtic next season.
“He’s doing a very good job and as a striker, as a colleague, I am very happy for him,” Kyogo said.
“I think everyone wishes him to stay. But at the end of the day that’s his decision.
“We want him to stay, though.”
On a personal level, the season may not have gone as well as Kyogo hoped, but the forward is delighted that he and his teammates have managed to dig deep and end an often fraught campaign with a league and Scottish Cup double.
“Throughout the 90 minutes I thought everyone fought,” he said.
“In the end we got the result and we made everyone smile – so we’re happy about it.”
