Kyogo Furuhashi's life after Celtic goes from bad to worse as Rennes man trudges off with old issue

Former Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi’s difficult start to life as Rennes player continued over the weekend after the Japanese striker was forced off by injury.

Furuhashi moved to French top-flight outfit Rennes last month for a fee in the region of £10 million after scoring 85 goals in a trophy-laden spell at Celtic - but his time in Ligue 1 has so far not gone according to plan.

The Japanese’s first week was rocked by a managerial change after Jorge Sampaoli was replaced by Habib Beye just days after Furuhashi was signed by the Breton club and after making his debut at the start of February for Rennes in 1-0 win over Strasbourg, Furuhashi has toiled to become a starter.

Former Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi is fighting relegation and injury at Rennes. | AFP via Getty Images

Since being named in the XI for that game on February 2, Furuhashi was an unused substitute in the 2-0 triumph over Saint Etienne before coming on a replacement on Sunday at home to Lille. However, after appearing in the 73th minute as Rennes chased down a one-goal deficit, teammate Christopher Wooh was sent off and then Furuhashi had to leave the pitch injured due to a shoulder issue.

As Rennes had used all of their subs by this point, they finished the game with nine men and ended up losing 2-0, leaving them 13th in Ligue 1 and just five points clear of the drop zone.

Manager Beye lamented the injury that forced Furuhashi off. The former Vissel Kobe frontman managed his shoulder problems during his time at Celtic, but it will have no doubt been a concern to both player and manager to see Furuhashi come off injured.

"Red cards, injuries, they don’t help but I don’t want to use them as an excuse,” said Beye. “Kyogo Furuhashi's shoulder injury forces us to change system and, at that moment, we have a highlight, we had a boost of energy.

Rennes were beaten 2-0 by Lille on Sunday. | AFP via Getty Images

"I think our choices in the final third were not always the right ones, we lacked precision and offensive weight to put them under pressure. The problem is that, at one point, we played with 9, with the temporary exit of Kyogo Furuhashi.

"When you play with 10 against a team like Lille it's difficult, then with 9 ... but I liked the state of mind of my players. We had the will to want to win the match with our intentions, and with what we put in place. We were dominated but the will was there."