Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has dropped a worrying injury update on Kyogo Furuhashi.
What's the latest?
In recent comments cited by the Daily Record, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss appeared to backtrack on recent comments made regarding the centre-forward's recovery from a hamstring injury, in which the Greek-Australian coach claimed that the 27-year-old "won't be far off" making a return to first-team action.
However, in his latest injury update, Postecoglou appeared to contradict this claim, stating that "Kyogo is nowhere near it [making a return to training]."
Fans will be devastated
Considering just how much Kyogo has revolutionised the Celtic attack since his £4.6m move to Parkhead last summer, the news that the striker is still some way off making a return to first-team football is sure to have left Bhoys fans devastated - particularly after Postecoglou's initial update on the forward.
Indeed, over his 14 Premiership outings this season, the £4.95m-rated centre-forward has been in remarkable form for the Hoops, having bagged eight goals, registered two assists and created four big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 2.1 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.
These returns have seen the £18k-per-week Japan international average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.03 in the league, however, the centre-forward has also been in fine goalscoring form over his 12 appearances in the domestic and European cup competitions, scoring a further eight goals and providing three assists - taking his total haul to 16 goals and five assists in just 26 games.
As such, it is clear for all to see that the fact that Kyogo looks set to remain on the sidelines for the near future will come as a huge blow to Celtic's hopes of going on to reclaim their Premiership crown this season - with failure to do so being an outcome that would undoubtedly leave everyone involved with the Bhoys gutted.
In other news: £621k in the bank: Celtic dodged a January transfer bullet on "perfect" £27k-p/w flop