BBC Sportsound pundit Tam McManus has heaped praise on Celtic’s James Forrest after he scored his first goals for his country in a 4-0 win against Albania.
McManus, writing in his column in the Herald said, “An already brilliant start to the season got even better for James Forrest on Saturday night.”
“A sensational second goal put the gloss on an emphatic 4-0 over Albania in Shkoder. The touch to flick the ball over the defender and then the volley finish was world class and if it that was Messi or Ronaldo we would be raving about it for years.
“It was a goal only someone at the very peak of their powers in terms of confidence would have attempted. The Celtic winger has been in blistering form for his club and wisely the Parkhead outfit tied him down on a long-term contract a couple of months ago. He is only going to improve and get better.
“He has shown tremendous character to stick at it and eventually win over all the fans who didn’t fancy him. Now Celtic have a top-class wide man who could go and play in any league in the world. To get him signed up for a further four years was tremendous business by Celtic. There’s no doubt Forrest is in the £10-15million category.”
OPINION
High praise indeed from McManus for Forrest and while we’re not sure he could play in any league in the world, he is in the form of his life. He’s always divided the Celtic fans and he suffered from inconsistency in his early career but he finally seems to have clicked, both for Celtic and in the dark blue of Scotland. The Albania game was his 25th cap for his country and it finally saw him get the goals he’s been craving. He’s scored nine in 24 games across all competitions for Celtic and now he’s got two for his country. He had a sensational game and has won the fans over at Celtic with his brilliant start to the season. Getting him signed up on a new contract was very good business by the club and it wouldn’t surprise us if some English clubs started sniffing around him in January. If they do, Celtic are in a very strong position.