Celtic had a perfect Kyogo replacement & sold him for £400k

Celtic’s dream of winning the domestic treble this season is still alive after they hammered St. Johnstone 5-0 at Hampden Park in the semi-finals of the SFA Cup.

The Hoops already won the League Cup earlier this season, and they are a win away from sealing the Scottish Premiership title, which means that the SFA Cup is the last trophy that they need to clinch to seal the treble.

Brendan Rodgers was unable to win all three domestic competitions in his first season back at Parkhead, as his team lost to Kilmarnock in the early stages of the League Cup in August 2023.

The Hoops are well on course to enjoy a perfect domestic campaign this time, however, after a fantastic performance and result against the Saints on Sunday.

Two goals from Daizen Maeda and strikes from Adam Idah, Jota, and Callum McGregor sealed the win for the Scottish giants, with four of the goals scored in the first half.

Idah was given the nod in the centre-forward position despite enduring a fairly difficult first full season at Parkhead since joining on a permanent deal last summer.

Adam Idah’s Celtic struggles this season

The Ireland international scored eight goals in 15 Premiership games and scored a last-minute winner against Rangers in the SFA Cup final during his loan spell in the second half of last season.

His impressive displays during that loan spell led to Celtic making the decision to pay a reported fee of £8.5m to Norwich City to sign him permanently, with add-ons that could take the deal to £9.5m.

It was a huge amount of money to spend on the striker, when you consider that Odsonne Edouard was the most-expensive striker signing in the club’s history at £9m prior to that deal, and he has yet to justify the price tag with his performances this term.

Idah has only started 16 of his 30 appearances in the Premiership this season, scoring eight goals, as Maeda has been preferred ahead of him in the number nine role more often than not since Kyogo Furuhashi’s move to Rennes in January.

The former Canaries marksman had a chance to step up as the first-choice centre-forward after the Japan international moved on from Parkhead at the start of the year, but he has failed to take that opportunity.

As you can see in the table above, Idah has underperformed against his xG by almost three goals and missed a whopping 13 ‘big chances’ in 16 starts in the league.

These statistics show that the £8.5m signing has been wasteful with the chances that have come his way in the Premiership, which is why he has yet to justify the money spent on his services so far.

Kyogo, who cost the club a reported £4.6m from Vissel Kobe, scored 63 goals in 116 Premiership games for the club and Idah is yet to prove that he can deliver that kind of quality or consistency for the Hoops in the final third.

Of course, the Ireland international only turned 24 in February and still has time left ahead of him to develop and improve, but the club may have hoped for more instant success on the pitch for the money that was spent on him.

Idah’s struggles since joining for a deal that could rise to £9.5m may be particularly frustrating when there is a former Celtic forward out there who could have been an upgrade on him, and a perfect replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi.

Celtic sold their perfect Kyogo replacement for £400k

Attacking midfielder Lewis Morgan joined the Hoops from St Mirren at the start of 2018 and went on to score just two goals in 31 first-team appearances for the club.

The versatile attacker also had loan spells with St Mirren and Sunderland during his time with Celtic, before being sold to Inter Miami for a reported fee of £400k at the start of 2020. Before Lionel Messi, they had Lewis Morgan.

He produced seven goals and seven assists in 58 matches for Inter Miami, a respectable return for a player who played in midfield or on the wing, before being sold to New York Red Bulls at the end of 2021.

Since his move to the Big Apple, Morgan has mainly been deployed as a centre-forward in what has been a big positional shift in his career, from being a midfielder by trade to leading the line in the MLS.

His performances for New York Red Bulls in comparison to his form for Inter Miami and Celtic suggests that he should have been playing as a striker earlier on in his career.

Morgan missed 31 matches in the 2023 MLS season, due to a hip injury, but excelled at the top end of the pitch in the 2022 and 2024 campaigns either side of those injury woes.

As you can see in the table above, Morgan scored 28 goals and only missed 11 ‘big chances’ in those two seasons combined, whilst Idah has missed 13 ‘big chances’ and only scored eight goals in the current Premiership this season.

This suggests that the Scottish attacker is more clinical, and more creative with his 20 ‘big chances’ created, than the Irish marksman, and that he could be an upgrade on him in the present day.

Morgan did not get the chance to showcase his quality as a striker during his time at Parkhead, which is something that the coaches may look back on with regret, as his form since playing that role suggests that he could have been the ideal long-term replacement for Kyogo.

Like the Japanese forward, the right-footed ace does not have a traditional number nine build, standing at 5 foot 10, but he has the mobility, the movement, and the quality on the ball to make things happen, as shown by his form in America with a regular stream of goals when fit.

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Therefore, Celtic accidentally binned their perfect replacement for Kyogo for just £400k because they did not see the potential for him to play as a centre-forward, and they now have an £8.5m signing who has yet to prove himself on the pitch in that role.