Sports Opinion Brendan Rodgers completes his Celtic rehab but a brass neck will never replace Kyogo’s golden boot – Hugh Keevins.

Shug doesn’t have Idah as a substitute for the Rennes-bound striker, even though Rodgers’ other transfer business has been commendable. When Celtic’s Champions League match against Young Boys ended on Wednesday night, I was tempted to call my old buddy Fraser Wishart, the head of PFA Scotland, and ask if a new category would be established at the Players Union’s annual awards event. I proposed calling it the Brass Neck of the Season trophy and nominating Celtic’s Adam Idah as the first recipient. Adam was the third last person to touch the ball that created Celtic’s thoroughly deserved victory over the Swiss, but he ran off to take the acclaim of the crowd with no visible sign of a blush anywhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, the stadium announcer was testing the crowd’s belief by announcing the Irishman’s name as the scorer of a goal that his own mother would not have given him credit for. Not that they cared, of course, but now that Kyogo Furuhashi has left Celtic to join Rennes, the supporters will pay more attention to that particular role in Brendan Rodgers’ team. That equates to one goal every two games, a ratio Idah could never have imagined on his best days. His goal-scoring average is more likely to be classified as once in a while rather than being anywhere near prolific, and that’s why the onus is now on Celtic to replace the Japanese icon with a suitable replacement before this transfer window closes next week.
The economics of the issue are commendable; ten million pounds for a now thirty-year-old athlete who cost much less three and a half years ago is not to be disputed. And Rodgers could not be more happy with the other business that has been performed in recent days. Brendan has overseen the four million pound sale of a player, Alessandro Bernabei, who was a disappointment at Celtic Park but was offloaded for significantly more than his purchase price.

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