Why Kyogo Furuhashi could be set to hand Celtic's treble bid a massive boost

Only conjecture and supposition is essentially possible in speculating on injury returns for Celtic players.

It is perhaps why quite a stooshie was created on Wednesday afternoon with a post on a Celtic fan forum that claimed Kyogo Furuhashi was back in training and could make a matchday squad for the first time this year as early as Saturday’s hosting of Ross County. With Ange Postecoglou fiercely protective of his players’ privacy over their medical status, such a development hasn’t been trailed by the Celtic manager in recent weeks. That doesn’t mean to say that the Japanese striker, the sun around which Celtic’s playing planets revolved in a revelatory first five months with the club that bagged him 16 goals, isn’t preparing for an imminent return. It is just that nothing can be stated with any certainty over his rehabilitation from hamstring problems. Issues that troubled him within a month of making a mighty splash following his August arrival in Scotland subsequent to a £4.6m move from Vissel Kobe.

What it is possible to do is build a picture of the possible comeback timescale for Furuhashi from the snippets offered up by Postecoglou. All of which chime in with the notion that the striker could shortly re-appear. David Turnbull has returned to full training this week on the back of going down with a damaged hamstring in the Premier Sports Cup final victory over Hibs on December 19 – a week before Furuhashi, the two-goal matchwinner in the Hampden decider, was forced off early into the Boxing Day win away to St Johnstone. These developments could provide context to where Furuhashi is at currently if knitted together with comments made on the pair by the Celtic manager on January 28.

“[Kyogo’s] is a similar injury