Celtic hero Kyogo Furuhashi has been named by his continent's governing body alongside Spurs' ace Son Heung-min as one of their top Asian imports last season.
The Japanese international enjoyed an excellent opening season with the Hoops after signing from Vissel Kobe, as he helped Ange Postecoglou 's men reclaim the title from Rangers. He was joined in January by countrymen Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate as Celtic raided the Japanese market to great effect.
And Kyogo has been named as one of the players to make the biggest impact on European football last season by the Asian Football Confederation. They stated: "Eyebrows were raised when Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic announced the signing of Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi from Vissel Kobe in the J1 League, but for those who followed his exploits domestically and in the AFC Champions League, this was a shrewd piece of business from the Australian manager.
"Fast forward 12 months later, and Furuhashi has already established himself as a fans' favourite in Parkhead. A hat-trick on his home debut against Dundee was the perfect start for the 27-year-old, and a total of eight goals and two assists were a solid return in a campaign in which he missed three months through injury.
"Furuhashi ended his maiden season in Scotland with the league and League Cup double and in the latter, it was his brace that turned the final around as Celtic came from a goal down to beat Hibs 2-1."
The other players named by the AFC were: Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt, Japan), Son Heung-min (Spurs, South Korea), Mehdi Taremi (Porto, Iran), Ajdin Hrustic (Eintracht Frankfurt, Australia) and Eldor Shomurodov (AS Roma, Uzbekistan).
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