Celtic centre-forward Kyogo Furuhashi may not be fully match-fit until next season.

What's been said?

That's according to injury expert Ben Dinnery, who claimed in a recent interview with Football Insider that, despite the centre-forward suggesting earlier this week that he is in "very good condition" ahead of Celtic's upcoming clash with Rangers, the Japan international will take a considerable amount of time to regain his pre-injury levels of both sharpness and match fitness.

Dinnery went on to state that, while the 27-year-old may well get a run-out at Ibrox in order to get some first-team minutes under his belt, Celtic fans should not expect to see the striker back to his best until the club's 2022/23 campaign.

Speaking about Kyogo's recovery, Dinnery said: "It will depend on how much he is playing and the environment at the time. He has spent over three months on the sidelines. It will take a while before he gets to pre-injury levels in terms of sharpness and match fitness.

"It may be that we don't see Kyogo hitting those pre-injury levels this season. It might just be an opportunity to get some minutes in his legs and test that hamstring. But ultimately, we won't see a fully fit Kyogo back in that Celtic team until pre-season."

Supporters will be gutted

While the vast majority of Celtic supporters will be well aware that Kyogo will take time to regain his match fitness after spending over three months on the sidelines, Dinnery's claim that the centre-forward may not return to his best until next season is sure to have left the Parkhead faithful gutted - especially as the Bhoys are set to face Rangers three more times in all competitions this season.

Indeed, over his 14 Premiership appearances this season, the £4.95m-rated striker has been a revelation in the Celtic attack, scoring eight goals, registering two assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.1 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game - with these metrics seeing the Japanese hitman average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.03.

However, it has not only been in domestic competition in which the £52.5k-per-week forward has been in electric form, also scoring two goals, providing two assists and creating two big chances over his five Europa League outings - with these metrics seeing him average a SofaScore match rating of 7.10.

As such, with the race for the Premiership title being the closest it has been in recent memory, as well as Ange Postecoglou's side being in with a fantastic chance of securing a domestic treble, should Dinnery be correct in his claim that the 27-year-old will not get back to his best until next season, it will undoubtedly come as huge blow to everyone involved with the Hoops - as Celtic could very much do with a fit and firing Kyogo in the run-in of their 2021/22 campaign, starting at Ibrox next Sunday.

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