Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Kyogo Furuhashi asked to leave Celtic several months ago — but is confident the club will emerge from the January transfer window stronger than ever.

Furuhashi has been in France over the past couple of days finalising a £10million move to Ligue 1 club Rennes.

Rodgers has confirmed that he expects the deal to be completed imminently, with Portuguese winger Jota heading the other way and rejoining from Rennes for a fee of around £8.5m.

But Rodgers made it clear that the Japanese striker had asked to leave at the start of the season.

The move has ultimately been driven by Furuhashi, with Celtic set to cash in on a player they signed for £4.5m in the summer of 2021.

Furuhashi and Rodgers embrace after the Japanese was replaced against Young Boys

Furuhashi has scored 85 goals in 165 games for Celtic and departs as a modern club icon

Furuhashi and Jota are set to trade places, with Kyogo off to Rennes and Jota moving to Celtic

‘Kyogo had expressed an interest to leave a number of months back,’ said Rodgers, whose side host Dundee in the Premiership this afternoon.

‘Obviously then that expression becomes stronger and then it gets to this stage where he clearly wants to leave. We then have to then do a deal and look to finalise that for him.

‘He’s been an incredible player for the club in the three-and-a-half years he’s been here and, like I said, he’s not someone we wanted to lose.

‘But we have to accept where he’s at and, after the work that he’s done for Celtic, his age and where he’s at, we have to accept that.

‘We were reluctant to sell. He’s one of our top players and someone who fits perfectly into how we play. But Kyogo expressed an interest to leave a number of months back.

‘This football club has seen many talented footballers arrive here and leave. It’s a part of the great success of this club that we teach the players, we develop them, they then have the choice to stay or move on.

‘When they move on, then it provides the opening opportunity for another player. That has been the culture here at Celtic.

Furuhashi has been a huge part of Celtic’s Champions League run but is poised to depart

‘Kyogo has been an absolutely brilliant player for this club for three and-a-half-years. From the minute he walked in, he’s had so many fantastic moments on the pitch with the supporters.’

Asked if there had been a specific reason behind Furuhashi’s desire to leave, Rodgers believes a new challenge of playing in one of Europe’s top leagues may have been a factor.

‘Careers are short,’ he said. ‘Kyogo is 30 years of age now and players want these new challenges.

‘He’s achieved so much here at Celtic, but that opportunity at this time in his career to go into what would be one of the top five leagues was something that was maybe too good for him to turn down.

‘I think it was more just something new for him, a new challenge. He’s obviously loved the club, he’s loved everything about being here.

‘But players’ careers are short. As much as we want to convince them to stay here, the minute they want to move and the representatives say they want to move, then we have to do the best for the club.’

Jota was a fan favourite at Celtic after winning five out of six trophies in his time at the club

Mathias Kvistgaarden, scoring for Brondby against Legia Warsaw, is back on Celtic’s radar

Celtic expect to clinch a deal for Jota within the next 24 hours and are also set to renew their interest in £10m-rated Brondby striker Mathias Kvistgaarden.

With Kieran Tierney also edging closed to a return, Rodgers is confident the club will ultimately emerge from the January window in a stronger position despite the loss of Kyogo.

‘In terms of Kyogo, it’s been in the making for a while, so there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes and hopefully we can get someone to add that strength to our squad,’ he said.

‘It’s not something that has just been sprung on us. We understand that we were going to lose him and that we have to replace that quality to keep the team moving forward.

‘It’s something that’s been going on a little while and hopefully we come out of the window with a stronger squad.

‘Things will happen in this last week or so of the window. We certainly don’t plan to sell Kyogo and then be any weaker. Our plan is to be stronger coming out of January.’