Celtic were unable to continue their sensational start to the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign on Saturday as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Aberdeen at Parkhead.
It was an opportunity for the Hoops to go clear at the top of the table for the first time this season but they failed to do so, as the away side battled back from 2-0 down to secure a point.
Both teams had won their first seven matches in the division, leaving them level on points at the top, and they remain locked alongside each other after last weekend’s stalemate.
Brendan Rodgers’ side did appear on course for a relatively comfortable three points at half-time, thanks to first-half strikes from Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi.
Unfortunately, however, Celtic’s defence was too open in the second 45, and goals from Ester Solker and Graeme Shinnie completed a comeback for the Dons.
Celtic were unable to find a winner in the final 30 minutes, after Shinnie’s 60th-minute equaliser, as Kyogo failed to add a second to his tally and substitute Adam Idah did not find the back of the net.
Kyogo Furuhashi’s form this season
The Japan international scored his fourth goal in the Premiership this season with an opportunistic finish inside the box after a deflection fell kindly to him in the first half.
Kyogo also assisted the opening goal for Hatate with a superb run down the right channel and a clever pass across the box for his compatriot to stroke the ball into the back of the net.
It has been a strange season for the Japanese marksman so far as he has made a big impact at the top end of the pitch, with four goals in eight league games, but could also have made a bigger impact with the chances that have come his way.
|
24/25 Premiership |
Kyogo Furuhashi |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
8 |
|
Goals |
4 |
|
Big chances missed |
9 |
|
Big chances created |
0 |
|
Assists |
3 |
As you can see in the table above, the 29-year-old attacker has been directly involved in seven goals in eight games, with four goals and three assists, and it is hard to argue with that level of production.
However, he has also missed a whopping nine ‘big chances’ and he has yet to create a single ‘big chance’ for his teammates, which suggests that the forward is somewhat fortunate to have three assists under his belt.
Kyogo, who has scored one goal in two Champions League games, has not had much competition from Idah so far, as the summer signing from Norwich has produced one goal and zero assists in six Premiership outings.
There is a player in the academy – Daniel Cummings – who could eventually emerge as competition for both players if he keeps up his current run of sensational form.
Daniel Cummings’ form for Celtic’s academy
The Scotland U17 international has showcased his quality at academy level for the B team in recent seasons and appears to be a player with huge potential, if he can eventually translate his form to the senior side.
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In the 2023/24 campaign, the 18-year-old centre-forward produced an eye-catching return of 12 goals in 19 Lowland League matches for the young Hoops. However, he did struggle to provide regular quality in the UEFA Youth League, with zero goals and one assist in five games.
This season, though, Cummings has been firing on all fronts, with a return of two goals in two UEFA Youth League matches, which means that he has already outperformed his performance in the competition last term.
The Scottish youngster has also registered a stunning 12 goals in ten Lowland League outings in the 2024/25 campaign, which means that he has scored 14 goals in 12 games this season.
Kyogo, as aforementioned, has scored five goals in all competitions for the Scottish giants this term, which means that Cummings has scored over twice as many goals as the Japan international, and is one goal away from having scored three times as many as the first-team centre-forward.
The 18-year-old marksman is putting a marker down at youth level and doing all he can to show Rodgers that he deserves an opportunity to showcase his ability in the senior side, or – at least – to seal a loan move in January to gain professional experience.
Daniel Cummings could be the next Moussa Dembele
If Cummings can make the step up to the first-team and translate his immense goalscoring form at academy level over to senior football then he could emerge as Celtic’s next Moussa Dembele.
The French number nine arrived at Parkhead as a 19-year-old in the summer of 2016 and developed into a lethal goalscorer during his time with the Scottish giants.
He had already scored 19 goals in 64 matches for Fulham, ahead of his switch to Scotland, and this means that he came in with more first-team experience than Cummings currently has, which may be why a loan could be the way to go for him in January to gain his first bit of real experience.
In his first season with Celtic, Dembele hit the ground running with a staggering return of 32 goals and nine assists in 49 matches in all competitions, which included 17 goals in 29 Premiership games.
The former Fulham prodigy followed that up with 16 goals and nine assists in 39 games in all competitions during the 2017/18 campaign, which included one goal in four Champions League outings.
This means that Dembele ended his career in Glasgow with a return of 51 goals and 18 assists in 94 appearances, which is better than one goal every other game on average.
In the summer of 2018, Ligue 1 side Lyon swooped in to secure his services for a reported fee of £20m, clearly impressed by his superb goalscoring form.
Cummings could now look to follow in Dembele’s footsteps by becoming another promising, young, centre-forward to emerge as a lethal scorer for Celtic, if he can take his academy form over to the first-team in the coming months and years.