Kyogo Furuhashi was racing towards the Player of the Year Awards before injury struck him down last Boxing Day.
The Japanese hasn’t been sighted since due to the seriousness of his hamstring injury.
When you think of the job that Ange Postecoglou has done to get Celtic into position to win the title and possibly even a Treble with a Scottish Cup quarter-final looming against Dundee United on Monday, you have to be impressed.
But not half as impressed as you are when you consider he’s actually done it all since the turn of the year without his best player.
Makes you wonder where he’d have had them if Furuhashi was fit.
Celtic are three points ahead in the Premiership after 30 matches.
Furuhashi has started just 12 of those. With two sub appearances. That’s just 14 outings. The guy hasn’t even featured in 50 per cent of the top-flight games.
Also makes you wonder where Rangers would be if Alfredo Morelos, who has played 25 of his team’s 30 league games, had missed so many games?
The Colombian’s got eight in his last 12 top-flight games to supplement big goals in Europe.
Let’s put this into perspective. Leading up to the Premier Sports Cup Final against Hibs at Hampden six days before Christmas, the Celtic supporters were in a state of complete and utter panic at the prospect of Furuhashi not being available.
It’s no exaggeration to say that some thought his appearance in the Final might be the difference between their team winning and losing.
In such a short space of time, Furuhashi had built that reputation around himself with his outstanding performances. He had created that aura.
As it happened, he made it to Hampden and we all saw what happened next. Two absolutely sensational finishes, one with each foot, made sure Postecoglou won the silverware.
Since that day, we’ve seen him for 15 minutes at Perth. And he hasn’t scored another goal.
Celtic have been without their talisman, their top scorer.
During that explosive first-half to the campaign after he made his move from Vissel Kobe, it was obvious what a talent Furuhasi was.
But what was also evident was his ability to make others perform. His movement and his touch and link play made space for others, brought opportunities for them.
Furuhasi set the tone at the top of the pitch with his pressing and his presence.
Interestingly, in that period prior to the winter break, Celtic had dropped points in six Premiership matches as they trailed Rangers by half-a-dozen points.
In five of those matches, Furuhashi either did not start or he wasn't available at all.
That tells you how important he had become to the growing group and the manager who had the foresight to sign him when clubs across Europe clearly hadn’t even looked.
To have that ripped out of a squad would have been hard enough for a seasoned group of players who were the finished article and fully gelled.
To rip it away from a group still building and for them to keep fighting in the title race is something else entirely.
Any side in the country would be badly affected by losing their best player. You take Craig Gordon out of the Hearts team, for example? Morelos away from Rangers, or Joe Aribo. It takes an awful lot away and Celtic had to cope.
The Bodo/Glimt ties were bad, but to have put together a domestic run of 11 wins and one draw out of 12 games since the winter break without Furuhasi is some going.
To have turned that six-point deficit in the table to Rangers around to a three-point lead speaks volumes for the boss and also the guys who have stepped into the void.
I have liked the look of Giorgos Giakoumakis pretty much from the start with the way he plays the game, the way he can come short, link it, mess around defenders, win fouls and then get himself into the box and hit the target.
Giakoumakis makes good runs and he’s started to get goals. Daizen Maeda is a different type and also has his own strengths.
Not everyone can settle as quickly as his countryman Furuhashi did and it can take time to adjust, so five goals from Maeda isn’t a bad return so far.
But none of them are Furuhashi. None of them have his explosive spark and his magnificent finishing ability.
If Celtic had fallen away in the past couple of months and dropped a few points without him, you could have accepted that was always going to happen.
Usually, there is only so long you can cope or get away with it. But Postecoglou has found a way to keep it all going.
Fans are desperate for Furuhashi to get back and start strutting his stuff again.
What their team has managed to do in the title race without having him for over half of a flag bid speaks volumes for his colleagues and his boss.
You can only imagine how stylishly they could finish it all off if they can get him back.
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