OPINION
Former Celtic forward Frank McAvennie revealed he had doubts about whether James Forrest could succeed in England and he is probably no doubt already regretting sharing his thoughts.
The 59-year-old praised Forrest’s ability to track back but shared he didn’t think the player was “big” enough to do well in England as size still matters down there.
“I don’t know if he’s big enough to go down to England. That still matters down there,” said McAvennie, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“He tracks back well enough, though, which is an important part of the job for any winger in the English game.”
McAvennie’s comments wrongly threw doubt on Forrest’s potential to do well in England as size doesn’t come in to it if you’re good and the Celtic player is definitely that.
The 27-year-old midfielder has scored 17 goals and registered 20 assists in 55 outings across all competitions for Celtic this season, and while some may question the standard of Scottish football; those stats imply that he more than likely will be good enough to feature in the English Championship or the English Premier League.
Forrest’s numbers may not be as good in those divisions; but he would certainly be able to be an attacking threat for an English club just like he is for Celtic.
It’s irrelevant that Forrest is only 5ft 9in tall (Source: Transfermarkt) and if that needed making any more obvious BT Sport presenter Darrell Currie hammered that point home.
Currie replied to McAvennie to point out that thinking would mean Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser, who is 5ft 4in tall (Source: Transfermarkt) and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who is 5ft 7in tall (Source: Transfermarkt) would be too small to succeed in English football.
Ryan Fraser must also be too small then?? Oh and Messi surely too small as well??!! ????? https://t.co/uIc3A5xeHf
— Darrell Currie (@darrellcurrietv) May 7, 2019
“Ryan Fraser must also be too small then?? Oh and Messi surely too small as well??!!” wrote Currie on his personal Twitter account.
Considering Messi is arguably the best player in the world, he has scored 48 goals in 46 outings this season, no one would rightly dare say he was too small for English Football, nor would anyone question Fraser as he has wowed in his 37 Premier League outings in his 2018/19 campaign.
Therefore McAvennie is barking up the wrong tree to claim Forrest’s height means he’d struggle in English football and he must now surely feel embarrassed at how quickly Currie made his claim look foolish.