Celtic now exploring move to sign O’Neill’s new Henrik Larsson

Martin O’Neill may have worked his magic during his first interim spell in charge at Celtic, but the 73-year-old – despite winning seven of eight games in all competitions – isn’t a miracle man. This squad is in desperate need of improvement.

Wilfried Nancy’s ill-suited 3-4-2-1 set-up certainly exposed the flaws too greatly, but flaws they remain, with the lack of an adequate, reliable centre-forward perhaps the biggest issue facing O’Neill right now.

Johnny Kenny, Shin Yamada, Callum Osmand and Kelechi Iheanacho, a mish-mash quartet that have scored just nine goals between them all season.

Hoops fans may well be looking back fondly on Ange Postecoglou’s tenure, and the delightful headache of choosing between Kyogo Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis, with the experienced duo two strikers truly worth their salt.

Looking even further back, O’Neill knows better than most the value of a quality attacking pool at Parkhead, namely John Hartson, Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson. Can the club get close to such highs again?

It truly beggars belief that the Celtic hierarchy signed off on the deal to allow Adam Idah to move on to Swansea City late in the summer window, against Brendan Rodgers’ wishes, while having not secured a proven replacement.

It took a post-deadline day move for free agent Iheanacho to bolster the centre-forward ranks, although the Nigerian has been plagued by injury since, with the aforementioned Osmand also currently sidelined.

With that in mind, the Scottish Sun are reporting that O’Neill has informed the board that he wants a new striker signing as soon as possible, with the club having been exploring options over the last 24 hours or so.

The piece notes that the Hoops have been working on a possible shock return for that man Kyogo, just a year on from having sold the Japanese hero for £10m to Rennes.

Now at Birmingham City, the 30-year-old could potentially be in line for a surprise Parkhead homecoming on a loan basis, with there even suggestion he could arrive prior to the weekend clash with Dundee United.

Encouragingly, the report goes on to state that ‘other transfers are being worked on too’.

As already stated, O’Neill knows a thing or two about elite strikers, with Larsson having been the treble winner’s talisman all those years ago, scoring 242 goals in 315 games for the Glasgow side in total.

In the modern era, Kyogo has come as close as anyone to emulating the legendary Swede, with O’Neill himself describing the striker as being “as good as anyone since Henrik left“.

Frustratingly for the former Vissel Kobe man, he hasn’t found his groove away from Scotland, failing to score at all in France, while having been unable to score a single league goal in 23 Championship outings for Birmingham.

Very much the Blues’ answer to Michel Ange Balikwisha, you could argue, although those recent woes should not overshadow just what a menace Kyogo was in his Celtic pomp. He should be welcomed back with open arms.

The modern-day, goalscoring talisman for the Hoops, like Larsson before him, Kyogo fired in 85 goals in 165 games prior to leaving for Ligue 1, proving a particular thorn in the side of Rangers with eight in 17 against the Ibrox outfit.

Larsson too, was a king of the derby, scoring 15 times in all before departing for Barcelona, including that delightful dink under O’Neill in the 6-2 thrashing back in 2000.

He may have been inherited by O’Neill, but the enigmatic coach utilised his Scandinavian star to devastating effect. Can he do the same with Kyogo?

It must be said, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the Hoops that have already brought back the likes of Kieran Tierney and Jota over the past year, with that not exactly pointing to a functioning scouting system.

On the other hand, Kyogo, in particular, has been there and done it, and at a time when Celtic can’t afford to sink any lower, he could well be the man to steer them back on course.

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