Former Japanese-based England international striker Jay Bothroyd reckons it's a disgrace Celtic ace Kyogo Furuhashi continues to be snubbed by his national team.
Furuhashi's double against Rangers at the weekend pushed him up to fourth place in the European top scorers' chart. His 22 league goals mean he is only behind Harry Kane in third with 23, Fenerbahce's Enner Valencia with 26 and Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland with 30 league goals.
However, Japan boss Hajime Moriyasu caused huge controversy in his homeland by leaving him out of his last squad after expressing concern about the standard of the Scottish Premiership...despite including Hoops teammate Daizen Maeda.
Now former Wolves, Cardiff City and Perugia striker Bothroyd, who was capped by England and ended his career playing for three clubs in the J-League, has demanded Japan include Furuhashi in their next squad.
He said: "Calling Kyogo Furuhashi to the national team is a must.
"The Celtic striker is the No.9 Japan needs. He doesn't waste his chances. He was the same with Vissel Kobe and continues to do the same at Celtic.
"Why let Bochum's Takuma Asano play as a striker as a stopgap? Perhaps Asano and Furuhashi would be suitable as the top two pairing up front.
"But if you need a player who can score goals, then Furuhashi is a must.
"I cannot agree with Moriyasu's statement that he is not satisfied with the level of the Scottish League when he chose Daizen Maeda.
"Celtic could play against a team from the likes of Belgium or the Netherlands and certainly win. So the low standards in Scotland argument doesn't add up.
"This is just speculation, but there may be deeper issues. I just don't know.
"However, what is clear is that Furuhashi has scored 28 goals in all competitions this season and if Japan wants to succeed as an international power, they need a striker like him."
Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou claimed that Old Firm games are right up Alistair Johnston’s street after the robust Canada international put in a man-of-the-match performance in the 3-2 win over Rangers on Saturday.
told Celtic’s official website: “I think he’s one that loves a battle and it’s fair to say that he enjoys that side of the game, and a game like that is tailor-made for him.
“He also showed composure at times when we needed it but there’s no doubt he’s got that real competitive edge to him and every team needs players like that, particularly in games like this, and credit to him.
“He’s been with us for about four months and he’s already played in these games three times, so he’s one that will have a very good career for this football club.
“It was obviously a game of great significance for a number of reasons and credit to the players, they found a way to get the result we needed. The game had a bit of everything.
“We had our moments and they were threatening from set-pieces, and causing us some problems, but with this group of players they’ll always find a way."
