Kyogo Furuhashi will leave Vissel Kobe to join Celtic after the J. League first-division club said they had reached an agreement to transfer the Japanese winger to the Scottish Premiership side.
Vissel wrote on its website that the deal will be subject to a medical. Daily Sports reported that the transfer fee could approach the ¥760 million paid by Arsenal for then-Sanfrecce Hiroshima striker Takuma Asano, the current record for a local J. League player.
Furuhashi will join a Celtic side led by former Yokohama F. Marinos head coach Ange Postecoglou, who moved to Scotland last month after having led Marinos to the J. League title in 2019.
Furuhashi, 26, made his debut for Japan against Venezuela in November 2019 but had to wait more than a year for his second cap, which came in a 3-0 win over South Korea in March.
He has played six times for the Samurai Blue, scoring twice in March’s 14-0 thrashing of Mongolia in World Cup qualifying before netting one against Tajikistan last month.
Furuhashi was part of the Vissel side that won the Emperor’s Cup in 2019 and featured in the club’s Asian Champions League debut the following year, recording three goals and one assist in that campaign as the team reached the semifinals under a bio-secure “bubble” in Qatar.
The Chuo University graduate made his professional debut with the J2’s FC Gifu in 2017, scoring 17 goals in 68 games before moving to Kobe in August 2018.
Furuhashi is represented by Sports & Life, the agency run by Spanish legend and Vissel teammate Andres Iniesta's management team.