McAvennie issues ‘shock’ Kyogo claim as he hails ‘great news’ from Celtic
Frank McAvennie has suggested Kyogo Furuhashi could start for Celtic in their League Cup final clash with Hibernian on Sunday (19 December).
The former Hoops hitman, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, pointed to Ange Postecoglou’s recent comments.
As quoted by Sky Sports on Tuesday (14 December), Postecoglou confessed the Japanese international is still a doubt for Sunday’s Scottish League Cup but insisted “if he’s ready to go we’ll play him”.
Furuhashi, who replaced the injured Albian Ajeti after 28 minutes against Real Betis on 9 December, limped off himself 43 minutes later.
McAvennie has suggested Postecoglou could be preparing to drop a surprise this weekend and claimed Kyogo could even start against Hibs.
“On the Kyogo injury, Postecoglou got it wrong,” McAvennie told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild.
“But that is one of the first things he’s got wrong at Celtic and I’m sure Kyogo was asking to come on.
“That’s the end of it. The good thing is that he wasn’t involved in any capacity last night.
“He stayed at home and had the TV on, that’s great news. Ange has said he will play against Hibs if he’s fit.
“He has done that before. There have been a few times where Ange has said players won’t make it or they will only make the bench.
“Then they are in from the start in the next game. So well will see what happens.
“I’m not getting my hopes up but it wouldn’t surprise me if Kyogo did make some sort of shock appearance.
“In a weird way, it would be great if we could win that game without him.
“That would be big for us but Hibs will be bang up for it.”
In other news, pundit hails “unbelievable” Scales boost as Celtic rocked by more injury blows.