Real Reason Celtic Agreed Kyogo Furuhashi Exit in January

Kyogo Furuhashi brought an end to his phenomenal run at Celtic by joining Rennes in January. It is a move that not many would have seen coming, especially in the middle of the season and with Champions League knockout phase qualification secured.

Fans were left even more disappointed when the club were not able to bring in a replacement for Kyogo in the winter transfer window.

Many questioned why the club had green-lit the exit of Kyogo if they did not have a backup plan prepared already.

It looks like it was not the club's wish to part ways with Kyogo in the middle of the campaign but that of the Japanese forward.

As reported by Football Insider, Keith Wyness said to the Insider Track podcast: "From all I’m hearing from my contacts, Kyogo really did want to be away.

"It wasn’t the club getting rid of him, he expressed his desire to move on.

“It’s a surprise, but nevertheless, he wanted to go to France – so fair enough.

“You don’t really want a player who doesn’t want to be at the club."

It is safe to say that the timing of Kyogo's exit did not help Celtic but if he really was intent on leaving last month then green-lighting the move was the right step.

Not only do you not want players who are looking to leave but also, Kyogo had earned that type of leeway. Over his three-and-a-half seasons at Celtic, he scored 85 goals and played a starring role in eight trophy wins.

He scored in Glasgow derbies, cup finals at Hampden Park and in the Champions League. There is not much more he could have done and perhaps he saw this as the right time to seek a new challenge.

Then there is the matter of Kyogo being often overlooked when it came to the Japan national team. Maybe he felt that his chances of making it to the next World Cup would be improved if he was playing in a top five European league, like Ligue 1.