Celtic reaction: A Kyogo Furuhashi first, scouts in house but were Leverkusen there, Ben Summers 'growth'

We pick out three talking points from Celtic’s 4-1 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Kyogo Furuhashi

Celtic’s Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi is having quite an incredible season. He opened the scoring against Kilmarnock after seven minutes, using firstly his intelligence, then pace, then composure to seize on a slack Fraser Murray pass and then net past Sam Walker. It was his 29th goal of the season. He should have added his 30th with a penalty later in the first half but he smacked the base of the post. Remarkably, that was his first penalty attempt as a Celtic player in almost two years at the club, which makes his scoring feats all the more impressive. But what caught the eye even more was his 70-yard sprint, when Celtic were leading 3-0, to try and win the ball back after Matt O’Riley gave it away. The 28-year-old’s work rate for this team cannot be overplayed. And he won’t have to wait long for his 30th strike of the season …

Scouts in the house

Celtic kid Ben Summers came on in the closing stages against Kilmarnock to make his debut

There were a few English Championship scouts at Rugby Park, with Hull City and Watford represented. Perhaps young Kilmarnock midfielder David Watson was in their sights given the teenager’s recent rave reviews, while the Hornets are reportedly looking at Luke Chambers, who is on loan at Killie from Liverpool. There were also suggestions that Bayer Leverkusen were in the house, although staff at the match were unable to 100 per cent ratify who was on the entry list. Now, the German cracks have done business with Celtic before, signing right-back Jeremie Frimpong from the Glasgow club in 2021. Currently sixth in the Bundesliga and struggling to reach the Champions League positions, they do need to strengthen. Regardless of whether they have serious interest in any Celtic players, the current performance levels of most of this team will have tongues wagging throughout Europe and it’s only natural that other teams will be casting an eye over them.

Celtic’s debut Bhoy

There are not many homegrown players pushing through at Celtic right now so it was pleasing to see 18-year-old midfielder Ben Summers get his debut. A Scotland Under-21 internationalist, Summers came on 87 minutes and had one chance to run at the Kilmarnock defence. His fellow academy graduate Rocco Vata appeared before him, clocking up his third league game at the age of 17. “Ben and Rocco have trained with us for quite a while,” said manager Ange Postecoglou. “It’s about earning their opportunities. We have people out and Rocco came on and did the job. Ben has been good, we’re really happy with his growth and game time is a reward.”