Former Rennes manager Jorge Sampaoli has revealed he had nothing to do with Kyogo's January transfer from Celtic.
Sampaoli was sacked by the Ligue 1 outfit just days after the Japanese forward switched Glasgow for France.
The 30-year-old joined for around £9m, as Jota essentially moved in the other direction.
Kyogo has struggled badly to make an impact under new boss Habib Beye at Roazhon Park.
The former Hoops forward has started just one match in his five appearances.
There are suggestions in French media that Kyogo could already be on his way out of the club this summer.
And fuel has now been added to that fire, with ex-boss Sampaoli - who was the manager when Kyogo joined - now claiming he had no part in Rennes' winter transfer dealings.
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He claimed: "The owner of the club is a very important person in France and, frankly, the club was not up to the expectations that I had compared to the market.
"The sports director decided to make a transfer window that had nothing to do with what we needed.
"We preferred to cut the bridges. I could not represent a team that I had not chosen the players in the winter transfer window.
"We even talked about players who have already played with us to change the story more easily, but we were not listened to."
