With a solid 4-0 victory over Motherwell on Boxing Day, Brendan Rodgers and his Celtic side only have one game left in December (St Johnstone) to end the first half of the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign on a high, and unbeaten, as we look forward to another successful second half of the campaign.
15 league wins in 17, with a plus 44 goal difference sees us sat very comfortably at the top of the table on 47 points, and with a clear buffer zone of 12 points to the nearest chaser premier league match odds will continue to be firmly in our favour. In our European Champions League campaign we remain on track to potentially snare one of the last automatic qualification spots with the games that remain, and having already lifted the Scottish League Cup, January sees us face Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup fourth round.
This is almost the perfect way for us to head into the New Year, but of course, it would not be a January transfer window if we did not feature heavily on the speculation rumour mill and like normal there are a plethora of links both in, and potentially out, to keep the fans occupied.
One of the rumours that the Hoops faithful will be glad to see the back of at the end of the month is continued speculation about the future of Japanese international attacker, Kyogo Furuhashi.
The 22 capped 29 year old continues to enjoy life at Celtic Park following his £4.5 million arrival from Vissel Kobe back in the summer of 2021, as even though he has not been quite as clinical in his 24 appearances so far this season, he has still chipped in with eight goals and he continues to have potential suitors tracking him.
One of the sides with a more long term interest in his services are United States MLS side Atlanta United, and although we rebuffed their previous interest in him it is now being claimed that they will come back next month with another offer in the region of £10 million for him, but this should again fail.
The MLS side have two designated player slots available ahead of their next campaign and they had been strongly linked with a move for Benfica’s Brazilian talent Arthur Cabral. However, it is being claimed that those talks have now hit a stumbling block over the competing valuations of the player and although talks have not yet come to a close, given they have prioritised a marquee centre forward signing, Furuhashi apparently remains high on their list of possible targets.
Former Parkhead boss Ronny Deila has just been confirmed as their new head coach, and they have announced former Inter Miami executive Chris Henderson as their new chief soccer officer and CEO Garth Lagerwey has promised their fans some exciting, and big money moves, in the New Year and Furuhashi would tick that box with his record for us.
He remains under contract at Celtic until the summer of 2027 though, so even with him struggling a little more this season, very few would think we would be open to any kind of deal at the £10 million being talked about.
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