Peter Grant has said that should Kyogo Furuhashi need a spell on the sidelines due to his shoulder problem, Celtic may consider moving one of their many wingers to play up front if needed.
Kyogo dislocated his shoulder in the 3-0 win against Dundee but this has been an ongoing issue for the 28-year-old striker over the past two seasons.
But Grant believes that Brendan Rodgers could utilise one man in the striking role after seeing his preseason performances in Portugal and Japan.
Grant said [The Go Radio Football Show], “He’s so important [Kyogo]. It’s different if it’s somebody that’s out injured you can get away with it with a big group of players behind it.
“If you’ve not got a big group of players behind that is a big concern for me. But as I say, we don’t want to lose him.
“But as we seen in preseason, Maeda played through the middle which he has not really done for Celtic but he’d done it very well.
“I think he scored five or six goals in preseason. So maybe that’s something that Brendan will look at going forward.”
Daizen Maeda has improved for Celtic under Brendan Rodgers
The Japanese winger has always been industrious and a quality player for Celtic. His work rate for the team is second to none. All he needs to do is improve on his final ball.
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Under Rodgers though, Maeda found his goalscoring touch when he was played in the striker role during preseason.
The international player is utilised in that role by Hajime Moriyasu for Japan so it would be a seamless transition should Rodgers look or need to do that in the future.
However, all Celtic fans will be hopeful that it doesn’t come to that. Kyogo’s shoulder is a problem, hopefully, with the help of the Parkhead medical staff, it can be managed so that a lengthy spell on the sidelines can be avoided.
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