With each passing week, or each passing game, Wilfried Nancy’s stock plummets even further, with interim boss Martin O’Neill carefully nurturing this Celtic side back into form.
Let’s face it, this isn’t a vintage Hoops side, although the Scottish champions have enjoyed a vital mid-season correction, booking their place in the Europa League play-off round, while remaining firmly in the mix in the Premiership title race.
Positivity also surrounds the club’s early January deals, with the latest 2-0 win over Falkirk seeing Tomas Cvancara head in his first goal in Glasgow, following last weekend’s Tynecastle assist, while fellow loan arrival, Julian Araujo, swept the Man of the Match award.
It’s early days, yet those two deals look to have improved O’Neill’s squad, if not the starting XI, with intrigue mounting over whether the deadline day duo of Junior Adamu and Joel Mvuka can follow suit.
What Celtic can expect from Adamu and Mvuka
Starting with Adamu, the Austrian has arrived at Parkhead on an initial loan deal from Bundesliga side Freiburg, following Cvancara in sealing a mid-season exit from Germany.
Like Cvancara too, the 24-year-old hasn’t exactly been in red-hot form of late, scoring just three league goals in total since the start of 2023/24.
That doesn’t exactly bode well, although his prior work in Austria is reason for encouragement, with the speedy forward netting 23 goals in 84 games for Red Bull Salzburg, alongside 26 in 49 for FC Liefering.
Much like Cvancara, who’d scored just ten goals in all competitions since the start of 2023/24, after previously shining at Sparta Prague, it appears a case of Adamu needing to recapture his previous best, with there certainly a player in there.
As for Mvuka, meanwhile, he might represent a far more risky deal, with journalist Robin Bairner describing him as a “mediocre Ligue 1 player”, while dubbing it a “weird move” for those at Parkhead.
Indeed, the 23-year-old has just six goals and assists to his name in 55 games at Lorient, albeit while previously racking up 23 goals and assists in 84 games for Bodo/Glimt.
Described as an “explosive winger” during his time in Norway by talent scout Jacek Kulig, if at his prior best, the Norwegian could well be Celtic’s much-needed solution on the right flank.
Both men need to re-find their mojo, but they should be afforded the time to do so. Time, unfortunately, might have run out for one of their new teammates, however.
Celtic flop now looks finished after Adamu & Mvuka moves
With Mvuka looking set to battle Yang Hyun-jun for a right-wing role, and with Adamu offering the ability to feature centrally, or on either wing, it does beg the question of where it leaves summer signing, Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
Celtic’s most expensive signings of all time
The Hoops have made some sensible signings over the years.
The £5m man has already been a bystander to proceedings in Glasgow, with the arrivals of two more forwards only set to hamper his hopes of game time even further between now and the end of the season.
That being said, the DR Congo international can’t exactly complain regarding his current standing under O’Neill, having failed to make an impact at all when he has featured over the last six months or so.
Chased for so long by the Parkhead hierarchy, the former Royal Antwerp man looks like a shadow of the player who dazzled in Belgium, having racked up 47 goals and assists in 145 games for his previous employers.
Capable of operating as a number ten, through the middle or on either flank, the 24-year-old looked like a smart acquisition, ready to challenge the likes of Daizen Maeda and Sebastian Tounekti for a starting role.
While perhaps impacted by such competition on that left flank, in particular, the Belgium-born wideman can have few complaints, having been so “passive” for the Scottish champions to date, as per pundit Andy Halliday.
In all, his time at Celtic – which has been disrupted by a spell on AFCON duty – has yielded just 14 appearances and only two assists, having yet to score in his new surroundings.
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Balikwisha – 24/25 vs 25/26 stats |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stat (*per game) |
24/25 |
25/26* |
|
Games |
16 |
7 |
|
Starts |
12 |
2 |
|
Goals |
4 |
0 |
|
Assists |
3 |
1 |
|
Big chances created |
7 |
1 |
|
Big chances missed |
3 |
0 |
|
Key passes* |
1.6 |
0.4 |
|
Succ. dribbles* |
0.4 |
0 |
|
Touches* |
49.4 |
21.1 |
|
*just in Premiership |
||
Worringly, Balikwisha hasn’t actually played a single minute in the league since October, with his only outing at all this year coming in the narrow win over Auchinleck Talbot late last month.
That 68-minute appearance saw him deployed in a number ten berth, a position O’Neill deems to be his best role, although he didn’t exactly take that chance, leaving him running out of rope in a Hoops jersey.
Firmly behind Benjamin Nygren and likely Luke McCowan as a number ten, and now even further down the attacking pecking order after the arrivals of Adamu and Mvuka, the £5m flop looks to be heading for a swift, inevitable departure come the end of the season.
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This Celtic flop should not start again in a big game after the end of the January transfer window.