Hartson blown away by summer signing Kyogo
JOHN HARTSON knows a thing or two about what makes a special Celtic striker. He played alongside arguably the best of them all in Henrik Larsson, after all.
So, when he says he is excited about the impact made so far by Celtic’s rising star Kyogo, and labels the striker as world class, his opinion shouldn’t be taken lightly.
However, Hartson isn’t quite ready to place the talented Japanese in the same bracket as Celtic’s super Swede just yet. He may be a potential pretender to the throne, but in Hartson’s eyes, he has a long way to go to be remotely compared to the King of Kings just yet.
That said, he understands where those early parallels are being drawn between both players, with Kyogo’s movement and finishing prowess impressing him hugely since his arrival in Glasgow from Yokohama F. Marinos in the summer.
“I think he’s got a bit of everything,” Harston said. “I think he’s a very special player. I would never put him in the same category as Henrik now because Henrik was the king. Henrik... 242 goals, 315 games. Brought us out of the s**t every week, you know.
“Was a phenomenal player – did it for Barcelona, did it for Man United, did it for his country in major tournaments. Henrik was the best player, by a country mile, at Celtic in my time. Followed by Stiliyan Petrov, in my opinion.
“So there is no comparison between the two, and that’s no disrespect to Kyogo. Stephen Craigan said the other night he has similar movement to Henrik, and I said ‘yes, but he is flippin’ 303 goals behind Henrik at the minute...’
“We can’t make comparisons, I would never make a comparison. But in terms of coming from Japan, he has 12 goals already and some of those goals show you that he is a world-class operator: his movement, his touch, his finishing.
“His goal at the weekend with his left foot that hit the post and went in... his goal against Ferencvaros when Jota played him through, his touch and decision-making to hit it first time inside, that was just... he is world class. His movement is brilliant.”
The link-up with Jota that Hartson references has certainly excited the Celtic fans, and they have blown both Ferencvaros and Dundee away in the space of the last week with their pace, dynamism and seemingly telepathic understanding of each other’s movements.
For Hartson, it brings to mind some of the symbiotic relationships that existed within Martin O’Neill’s side of which he was a major part.
“It is very similar to something like Henrik and Stan’s, or Chris Sutton or
Henrik,” he said. “That pair had 67 goals between them in the treble-winning season. I have to remind Chris, Henrik got 53. He got 14.
“They were remarkable that first season, Chris’s first season, Martin’s first season. Winning the title in the fashion they did.
“He has just got that feeling about him Kyogo, and Celtic have got that feeling about them with Jota, Abada and him. And last week in Budapest they were able to change the front three – Mikey Johnston and James Forrest, who will be like a new signing for us.
“Forrest has almost become the forgotten man. You talk about Scotland, he has been outstanding for them, the hattrick against Israel a couple of seasons ago.
“Because he has been out of the team, you are not exactly forgotten, but it almost that he has to come back and do it again because he has been out so long.
“And we were able to bring on Giorgos Giakoumakis, who is still trying to get into his stride, for me.
“But I’m not going to comment too much because it is still too early to judge him.”
Some of those goals show you that he is a world-class operator: his movement, his touch, his finishing