Celtic flop ‘priced out’ of Parkhead exit deal, Rangers star named ‘top’ Champions League performer

Celtic opened a seven-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after bitter rivals Rangers suffered a 2-1 defeat to St Johnstone on Sunday.

The Hoops left it late to beat Dundee United 4-2 at Parkhead 24 hours earlier and in the process piled the pressure back on Giovanni van Bronchorst’s side. Their response would leave much to be desired as the Ibrox side continue to falter after their abysmal Champions League campaign.

GlasgowWorld takes a look at the latest Celtic and Rangers transfer headlines today...

Furuhashi’s Japan squad omission ‘right call’

Japan football legend Keiji Tamada reckons his country were right to leave Kyogo Furuhashi out of their World Cup squad because he doesn’t fit into head coach Hajime Moriyasu’s system.

The Hoops striker, who has been a regular part of the national team squad in recent years, shrugged off the disappointing news by stepping off the bench to score late in the 4-2 Premiership win over Dundee United on Saturday.

Tamada - capped 72 times by the Blue Samurai between 2004 and 2010, was selected for two World Cups and believes omitting Furuhashi was the right decision.

He explained: “It wasn’t a surprise to me that Furuhashi wasn’t included because of the way Japan plays. I don’t think the national team has the skills to make the most of him. At Celtic he is in the top two for scoring goals at his club, but that’s only because they dominate every game and create a lot of chances and he has the ability to score them.

”With Japan, they might only get one or two chances a game and the strikers are needed to press all game and defend from the front. So when you think about it, that’s not his strength and I can see why he was left out.”

Barkas ‘priced out’ of Celtic exit deal

Dutch outfit FC Utrecht have pulled out of a move to sign Celtic flop Vasilis Barkas on a permanent transfer after it was claimed he is “too expensive” to sign.

The Greek goalkeeper moved to Parkhead from AEK Athens in a £5million deal plus future incentives two years ago but endured a distasterous spell in Glasgow before being shipped out on loan to the Eredivise side in the summer.

The 28-year-old seems to have re-ignited his career in the Netherlands, with Utrecht boss Henk Fraser praising him as the best signing in the league this season after a standout display between the sticks in their 2-1 win over SC Heerenveen last week.

Althought Utrecht would be keen to turn Barkas’ loan move into a permanent stay, goalkeeping coach, Harald Wapenaar believes that’s an unlikely outcome.

He said: “Vasilis Barkas is too expensive for us. That is clear to everyone. He cost Celtic around 8 million Euros with add-ons. When I saw he was available in the summer and looked at his data, I couldn’t believe we wouls have a chance of signing him.

“I strong advised the club to sign him and I am glad we did. At the moment, he is doing great for us and he is in a good place. He is performing exceptionally well. He has been a great addition to the team.”

McGregor named ‘top’ Champions League performer

Veteran goalkeeper Allan McGregor ended the Champions League group stage campaign as Scottish football’s top performer this season, according to the FedEx Performance Zone index.

The 40-year-old stopper, who was reinstated as Rangers No.1 following an injury to Jon McLaughlin, ranked down in 107th place in the overall list with 105 points. The data revealed McGregor made nine saves and four claims with an 84% passing accuracy over his last three games.

He features narrowly ahead of Celtic defender Mortiz Jenz (119th) with 103 points and midfielder Matt O’Riley, who both started all six of their group games.

John Lundstram (226th) and James Tavernier (244th) are the only other Gers stars to feature inside the top 250 best players after a dismal run of results in Europe.

Sakala playing in ‘wrong’ position

Former Zambia head coach Ijosa Asanovic claims his protege Fashion Sakala is being played in the wrong position for Rangers, insisting he would be better suited to a central role.

Light Blues boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst has been eager to utilise Sakala’s electric turn of foot on the wing, but Asanovic, who guided the ‘Chipolopolo’ to Cosafa Cup glory in the summer before quitting his job in September feels that the Dutchman should risk handing the 25-year-old more freedom in his system.

He told the Scottish Sun: “I’m a big fan of Fashion. He was a big part of our squad for the World Cup qualifiers, he scored against Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia, as well as getting a hat-trick against Mauritania.

“If I was the coach of Rangers, I know where he would play - and it wouldn’t be on the wing. The way Zambia played, Patson Daka of Leicester was my main striker, but Fashion was behind him as a No10. I’m a coach, I understand the coach of Rangers will see it differently. He sees Fashion’s pace and uses it wide, I get why he does that.

“But for us, he could make his runs beyond the striker and it was hard for opponents to deal with. Fashion is a good player, though - as well as pace, he has a really good shot. Sometimes the coach has to take a little risk to see if he can get more from his squad. Maybe that risk is to give Fashion more freedom in their line-up.

“He’s a guy who has something different and Rangers deserve credit for seeing him when he played at Oostende in Belgium. Modern football isn’t a kindergarten but sometimes you have to find time to nurture players at first. I loved working with Fashion and I really hope he does well in Scotland.”