Things are going just swimmingly now for slow starter Kyogo

EVERY so often, Ange Postecoglou will throw in a reminder that Kyogo Furuhashi is, quite literally, punching above his weight as he plunders goals against defenders almost twice his size. Currently on 33 for the campaign, Celtic’s short and slender striker has had a wonderful second season in Glasgow, where he will tonight collect the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award.

The accolade represents a clean sweep of the country’s annual prizes and his stock among Celtic fans could scarcely be higher as he leads the charge towards next weekend’s Scottish Cup final and a tilt at the Treble.

Yet Kyogo’s ascent from modest beginnings in Ikoma City was not a given. He suffered rejection as a teenager and even before that was more inclined to pursue an entirely different sporting vocation.

All of this is on the table as he enters a dressing-room at Lennoxtown for a rare sitdown interview, interpreter Satoru Nakamura on hand to offer help in explaining the detail in his answers.

Summer has finally arrived in Glasgow, so Kyogo is wearing a vest top that serves to accentuate the slight physique that makes him an unlikely footballer — and an improbable rival for the broad-shouldered athletes who compete in the water.

‘I was a swimmer from three years old,’ he grins. ‘I tried hard at swimming, I tried to compete in national competitions. But all the kids in the neighbourhood were playing football and I thought: “That’s cool”, so I started playing.

‘Even at that age, I was in front of the goal all the time. Every time I received the ball, I’d just shoot and score goals.

‘When I got to high school, between 16 and 18, there was a professional footballer in my year.

‘Two players came out of my school to be footballers. That’s when I thought, okay, maybe there’s a chance for me.’

If Kyogo is unusually slight for a modern footballer, his physical make-up has informed how he plays and, in some ways, is the making of him.

While some strikers like to draw their opponents into a physical contest, Kyogo thrives by evading defenders, an art he has mastered to take on a spectral quality in the final third of the pitch.

The 28-year-old frequently and deliberately wanders offside, causing defenders to constantly check over their shoulders and back again.

The moment they avert their gaze, he moves, darting into the space from which he makes the art of scoring goals look like the easiest thing in the world.

It was those space-finding qualities that made him such a valued team-mate of Andres Iniesta at Vissel Kobe and also a feared opponent of Postecoglou’s Yokohama Marinos in the J League.

When Postecoglou commenced his daunting rebuild of Celtic in the summer of 2021, he was clear on who he wanted his marquee signing to be.

It was Kyogo’s two goals that delivered the League Cup that December to provide the first tangible evidence that the Postecoglou project was on track and he ended the season as the club’s top scorer.

This season, he’s been even better, shrugging off the disappointment of his surprise omission from Japan’s World Cup squad to deliver another double in this year’s final against Rangers.

National coach Hajime Moriyasu is not the first person to doubt Kyogo. He’d continued playing football as he moved from Kokoku High School to Chuo University but suffered rejection after trials with several professional clubs.

‘I was struggling at one point, no-one was really calling me to play for their club,’ he says. ‘I thought about giving up on my career.

‘My family told me that nothing was finished, so why should I give up? These kinds of words triggered me and switched me on. So then I thought why not keep trying until the end and see how it goes.’

His break came with second tier club Gifu.

‘If I hadn’t gone there maybe I’d have had to work like anyone else and just played football as a hobby,’ he explains. ‘But luckily Gifu called me with a place on their team and that’s how I started. I’ve always appreciated that.

‘First of all, I was glad to meet the coach (Takeshi Oki). I was the new guy in my first year but I kept working on what I had.

‘Everyone supported me. After I showed what I had, the coach used me and had a confidence in me. That kept me motivated.’

Although he’d always favoured a striking role, Kyogo had actually served as a full-back during his high school days and would go on to alternate between wide and central attacking roles as he made his name with Gifu.

After two years, his big move to the J League came with Vissel Kobe in 2018. A year later, he made his international debut.

As his ascent continued, he never lost sight of those with whom he’d struggled in those early years.

‘When you start playing football, everyone is trying to be a professional player,’ he reflects. ‘I talk to some friends who say what I’ve done is amazing. It’s quite rare and only a few people can come through to the professional level. But even if they work at a company or somewhere else, they are still using whatever they’ve learned through football.

‘I feel like I’m carrying the hopes of my friends who didn’t make it.’

Yesterday he picked up his fourth winner’s medal with Celtic as the champions paraded the Premiership trophy at Parkhead.

Tonight, as guest of honour at the writers’ bash, he will gather another memento.

‘I’m very happy to be selected for this award and I’ll make sure there’s space for it. I’ll put it in a nice place in my house.’