Celtic are looking to bolster their attack in the January transfer window and have been linked with a move to bring one of their former stars back to Parkhead.
It has been reported this week that the Hoops have been in talks with Birmingham City after registering an interest in a deal for centre-forward Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Scottish Premiership giants sold the marksman to Ligue 1 side Rennes in January at the start of last year for a fee of £10m, and are now hoping to bring him back for a second spell at the club.
Birmingham manager provides update on Kyogo to Celtic
Despite the report of talks between the two sides and the reported interest from Celtic, Birmingham manager Chris Davies is not expecting the attacker to leave the English outfit.
He told BBC Sport: “Kyogo is our player, who has been playing more matches recently than he has done in the last few months.
“The plan is that Kyogo continues in that vein – gets his goals and gets his game moving. So I’ll support him to do that.
“We’ve had no discussions at the moment about anything other than Kyogo giving his best and doing his best for Birmingham City. Personally, I think he’s going to stay here and potentially battle through whatever comes in front of him.”
25/26 Championship
Kyogo
Appearances
23
Starts
7
xG
4.91
Goals
0
Big chances missed
12
Assists
0
Stats via Sofascore
These comments suggest that the Japan international, who is yet to score a league goal for the Blues, will not be leaving to sign for Celtic in the January transfer window.
Birmingham signed Kyogo in a deal worth up to £10m in the summer transfer window last year, but his dismal form in the Championship has seen his Transfermarkt value plummet to just £5.2m at the time of writing (10/01/2026).
The Celtic forward who is worth more than Kyogo
Whilst the Japanese attacker is struggling for form and declining in value, Celtic have hit gold with one of their current stars, who is now worth even more than Kyogo.
Market Movers
Football FanCast’s Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club’s star player or biggest flop worth today?
In the summer transfer window ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, the Scottish giants reportedly paid a fee of £1.3m to sign Benjamin Nygren from Nordsjælland on a four-year contract.
Celtic were able to pay such a modest fee for the Sweden international because his contract with the Danish outfit was due to expire at the end of 2025, and the Hoops have hit the jackpot as a result of that market opportunity that they took advantage of.
Nygren, who can play on the right wing, in central midfield, or as an attacking midfielder, has scored ten goals and provided six assists in 31 appearances in all competitions this season, per Transfermarkt, in what has been a respectable first six months at Parkhead.
The left-footed star, who was hailed as “fearless” by international teammate Alexander Isak, has hit the ground running in Glasgow to provide a fairly regular threat at the top end of the pitch, with just over a goal or an assist every other game on average.
Celtic’s top goalscorers
25/26 Premiership
xG
Goals
Benjamin Nygren
6.9
8
Daizen Maeda
7.93
6
Johnny Kenny
8.27
4
Kieran Tierney
1.24
3
Arne Engels
3.56
3
Callum McGregor
1.63
2
Stats via WhoScored
As you can see in the table above, Nygren is currently the top goalscorer for Celtic in the Premiership, with twice as many as the third-top scorer, and has scored his eight goals far more efficiently than the likes of Daizen Maeda and Johnny Kenny have scored their goals.
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These statistics show that the Swedish star is currently Martin O’Neill’s most reliable and efficient goalscoring option, as Kyogo once was for the Hoops, and that his market value has soared as a result of his form in Scotland.
At the time of writing, Nygren is currently valued at £5.6m by Transfermarkt. That means that he is worth £400k more than Kyogo at the moment, thanks to their respective performances at club level this season.
Whilst that £400k difference may not seem significant, it is a big difference when you consider that Nygren was signed for £1.7m and Kyogo was signed for £10m last summer.
The 24-year-old star also has time left ahead of him to develop as a player and increase his market value, potentially with a view to Celtic making a huge profit on his services in the future.
Therefore, the Scottish giants have absolutely hit the jackpot with the left-footed star, who is worth millions more than the fee they paid for his services less than a year ago.
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