The 30-year-old arrives at Blues from French side Rennes and has signed a three-year contract at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.

Furuhashi has been with the Ligue 1 side since January following a move from Celtic, but it was in his homeland where his career initially started.

It was with FC Gifu, in 2017, where the forward first earned his footballing spurs, initially plying his trade in the J2 League.

His debut season brought five goals in 24 games before he moved to top flight J-League side Vissel Kobe in 2018.

Furuhashi would enjoy great success during his time there, winning the Emperor’s Cup and Japanese Super Cup in 2020, scoring crucial goals along the way.

His performances – which included an impressive 15 league goals in 21 appearances in 2021 – were starting to attract attention from clubs in Europe.

It wasn’t long before Furuhashi got a much-coveted move to Celtic, joining the Scottish Premiership side in the summer of 2021.

And it was north of the border where the skilful forward really came to the fore.

Furuhashi’s first league goals came in the shape of a stunning hat-trick against Dundee, and he also bagged a double against Hibernian in the Scottish League Cup final. At the end of his debut season, he had netted 20 goals in all competitions and helped Celtic to a Scottish Premiership and League Cup double.

But it was his second season at Parkhead where Furuhashi stepped up another level.

After their league triumph, Celtic returned to the top table of European football in 2022/23 and Furuhashi made his UEFA Champions League debut against Real Madrid in September 2022, just a month after bagging a hat-trick in a 9-0 demolition of St Johnstone.

On 2 January 2023 he wrote himself into Celtic folklore with his first Old Firm derby strike in a 2-2 draw with Rangers, but his brace against their Glasgow rivals in the League Cup final brought about yet more silverware.

Furuhashi went on to net a stunning 34 times in all competition across the season – including 27 league goals that saw him secure the Golden Boot award. His goals and assists would also help Celtic secure a memorable domestic treble.

In 2023/24 Furuhashi would once again be a key performer for the Scottish champions as his goals and overall performances helped Celtic retain the league title and also win the Scottish Cup.

He netted a sixth derby goal against Rangers in a 1-0 win at Ibrox and scored his first Champions League goal against Lazio. During his time at the club, he was a regular in both the Champions League and Europa League and registered impressive goal involvements against the likes of Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, AZ Alkmaar and RB Leipzig.

His performances saw him attract reported interest from Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, but he remained at Celtic for the start of the 2024/25 campaign, scoring his eighth goal in 11 games against Rangers in a memorable 3-0 win at Parkhead.

He would help Celtic win another trophy – the Scottish League Cup – in December 2024, which was his eighth domestic honour in the green and white.

That would be his last piece of silverware in Scotland before he made the move to Rennes in January – making six appearances – following a stunning 85 goals in 165 games for Celtic.

At international level, Furuhashi made his senior debut in 2019 and has been capped 23 times by Japan.

The 30-year-old has now put pen to paper on a three-year contract with Blues through to the summer of 2028 and becomes the club’s fifth signing of the summer transfer window.