Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi is a footballing prince but don't compare him to king Henrik Larsson says club's former striker

John Hartson needs no second invitation to rhaposize about the talents of Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi.

Celtic’s Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates his second goal in the club's 4-2 win away to Dundee last weekend. The Japanese attacker's display led to him being compared to Henrik Larsson but the Swede's former team-mate John Hartson believes that doesn't pass muster. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

But the club’s former striker draws the line at endorsing the suggestion the Japanese attacker could be considered akin to a modern-day Henrik Larsson. Parallels have been drawn in some quarters between the Celtic all-time great, who was a contemporary of Hartson in the early 2000s, and the 26-year-old, who has taken Scottish football by storm with 13 goals in the three months since his £4.6m move from homeland club Vissel Kobe. Only last weekend, pundit Stephen Craigan invoked Larsson in marvelling at Furuhashi as he claimed a double in the 4-2 victory away to Dundee.

“I think Kyogo has a bit of everything, I think he’s a very special player. Some of his goals show you that he is a world class operator: his movement, his touch, his finishing,” said the former Celtic frontman. “[But] 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 mire every week. 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. So there is no comparison between the two - and that’s no disrespect to Kyogo. When Stephen said he has similar movement to Henrik, 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.”

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