Charlie Nicholas heaped praise on Celtic attacker Timothy Weah but confessed the 18-year-old may not have even made Brendan Rodgers’ squad if Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths had been available when he arrived.
The Sky Sports pundit revealed that Weah had been impressive for Celtic since joining on loan from Paris St-Germain and was working well as an impact player due to his pace.
“I think he is more of an impact player, he wants to be involved in the play and get behind players,” Nicholas said, as quoted by Sky Sports.
“When Celtic have it, they sit rather deep, so that’s the type of game that he isn’t familiar with. He has been impressive but more impressive coming off the bench and is able to utilise his pace.
“He reminds me of when Nicholas Anelka first came into the Arsenal side – the speed and desire to get in with the markers, he reminds me a bit of that. Anelka was a better player but the confidence he will get from Celtic having so much of the ball as well as the support.”
Nicholas then addressed Celtic’s chance of signing him and pointed out the teenager’s price was going up, which didn’t help, before claiming that perhaps Weah’s first-team chances would be under jeopardy if Eduard and Griffiths were able to be called upon.
“His price is going up so I don’t think they [Celtic] will buy him. Edouard’s value went up, it could have been £3m or £4m and we ended up paying £9m. It can advantage but also a disadvantage. I don’t think he can make that jump yet but I think you will find that when you play in front of around 50,000 fans, you have to want to do it and that spurs you on,” added the pundit.
“Let’s see what happens with Edouard and Griffiths too, because if they were available when Weah came in, he may not have been in the squad. I have enjoyed watching the kid.”
OPINION
Edouard has been battling niggling injury problems and hasn’t been able to be called upon by Rodgers as much as the Hoops manager would have liked. However even with Edouard fully fit and Griffiths available for selection, you’d still believe that Weah would have been signed and been regularly selected by Rodgers to feature. The 18-year-old may find himself starting a lot of games on the bench for the Hoops in order for his pace to be utilised against a tired defence rather than through 90 minutes, but he has still proven his worth to the club. Nicholas despite sharing these doubts about the duo’s potential impact on Weah, he does appear to have been blown away by how well he has done in a short period of time. This is shown by the fact the pundit believes that Weah keeps getting more impressive with each passing appearance and due to the fact he believes his price tag is getting a boost as a result of his display. While Nicholas pours cold water over Cetlic’s chances of signing the attacker permanently, it is nice to hear him be relatively confident that another loan spell at Celtic Park may be in the player’s future.