Celtic star warned not to follow Birmingham City flop who “can’t hit a barn door”

Scottish Premiership champions Celtic’s transfer model has once again proven to be hugely successful – buy, develop, sell, repeat.

Celtic star Maeda backed to turn down transfer interest

Odsonne Edouard arrived as a raw talent and left for Crystal Palace in 2021 for around £14m. Jota lit up the Premiership with his quick feet dribbling, only to be sold to Al-Ittihad for a reported £25m in 2023 after just one full season.

And last summer, Matt O’Riley – arguably the creative heartbeat of a title-winning side – was snapped up by Brighton for a fee in the region of £25m.

Now, with the summer transfer window approaching, the latest name dominating the exit conversation is Daizen Maeda, with Chris Sutton urging the forward to stay put.

And the Japan star won’t have to look far for a warning of what might happen if he leaves at the wrong time, with international teammate Kyogo Furuhashi struggling at Birmingham City and now backed to be moved on again.

Kyogo could be sold amid Birmingham struggles

Kyogo left Celtic to join Rennes for a fee of around £10m in January 2025, but was sold to Birmingham for around £8m just six months later.

Despite playing 28 times in the Championship this season, the 31 year-old scored only once, tallying just three strikes across all competitions.

And former Blue Clinton Morrison has told GOAL the forward could now be sold this summer: “He was getting the chances at Birmingham City but just wasn’t putting them in, and that can happen. That’s just a player short on confidence and it hasn’t really worked out. His work rate’s fantastic but you’ve got to have a bit more than work rate when you’re a number nine. You need to score goals and he was getting opportunities and he was just rushing at them.

“I think if he had started there in his first few games and started scoring a lot of goals as a centre-forward, his confidence would have just gone back through the roof and he would have scored a lot of goals, but he hasn’t been anywhere near it.

“That’s a player they could move on because he’s on big money and they try to see if they can get some money for him.”

EFL pundit Don Goodman also told the outlet: “In terms of value for money, it’s gone horribly wrong with regard to that particular transfer. And it’s surprising, really. I like his movement. He’s energetic, he’s quick. But he didn’t look like he could hit a barn door, if I’m honest with you, after a difficult start.”

Celtic owner Dermot Desmond has come under heavy criticism for his decision-making around both managers and squad building in recent years, but it’s fair to say Kyogo was yet another case of Celtic’s buy-low sell-high strategy working to perfection.