Jonathan Afolabi (F KV Kortrijk b.2000)

[tommy_c12000]

Warrants his own thread. I think he will be seeing some first team football this year. We will see where he ends up in the next 24 hours, Wolves and Palace with firm offers, would have more chance starting with Palace at the current time. Reportedly Locomotiv Moscow with offer as well, unlikely to be a good move considering their history of racism (see below for Odemwingie‘s experience) among other things including less chance for first team football and living in Russia.

https://www.punditarena.com/football/oisinmcqueirns2758/exclusive-lokomotiv-moscow-among-clubs-to-offer-afolabi-contract/amp/ (https://www.google.com/amp/s/punditarena.com/football/oisinmcqueirns2758/exclusive-lokomotiv-moscow-among-clubs-to-offer-afolabi-contract/amp/)

The mid tier la Liga team don’t appear to be in the equation any longer which would have been a very exciting move.

https://www.deadspin.com/zenit-supporters-unfurl-racist-banner-to-protest-the-si-1836954268/amp (https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadspin.com/zenit-supporters-unfurl-racist-banner-to-protest-the-si-1836954268/amp)

[elatedscum]

Spoke to a close friend of his a week or two ago. Said he had more offers than he could count and wasn't really sure what to do. Was trying to weigh up staying at as high a level as possible with getting first team football. There were also huge variations in terms of wages on offer - and while clubs could promise him the world before he signed in terms of pathways to the first time, trying to figure out the reality was a different thing.

My guess is that Southampton regret letting him go

[tommy_c12000]

Case in point look at poor Luca Connell. Celtic put on quite the show for him to secure him ahead of multiple other suitors promising him the world no doubt....and now he’s rotting with their under 21s after a few minutes of senior football preseason!

Having said all that, it would be in Jonathan’s best interest to make his decision sooner rather than later with season starting. Surely it will take him a week or two to get back to match fitness on top of everything else. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if he waits for a few days after the transfer window to maximize offers as interested clubs will be desperate if they’re still light on strikers come tomorrow at 5pm.

[tommy_c12000]

Just read an additional article: “Lokomotiv have tabled a four-year deal to Afolabi and they hope the opportunity to play in the Champions League will help persuade him to snub other offers to move to Russia. The Russians are also offering Afolabi a quicker pathway to first-team football with the forward promised he will go straight into the side because of an injury to striker Eder.”

No doubt the money is good as well compared to England. This must be very enticing

[The Fly]

Case in point look at poor Luca Connell. Celtic put on quite the show for him to secure him ahead of multiple other suitors promising him the world no doubt....and now he’s rotting with their under 21s after a few minutes of senior football preseason!


Rotting? He's only been there a month.


Just read an additional article: “Lokomotiv have tabled a four-year deal to Afolabi and they hope the opportunity to play in the Champions League will help persuade him to snub other offers to move to Russia. The Russians are also offering Afolabi a quicker pathway to first-team football with the forward promised he will go straight into the side because of an injury to striker Eder.”

No doubt the money is good as well compared to England. This must be very enticing

The level of racism in Russian football wouldn't be enticing though.

[tommy_c12000]

The level of racism in Russian football wouldn't be enticing though.
Yes, I highlighted above. Eder is another black striker there and he’s surviving though! In all seriousness, a 4 year contract in Russia will provide solid financial security, this is surely hard to turn down for a 19 year old who has never played first team football. Moreover, looking at their strikers he has a genuine chance of starting especially if Eder is injured, which includes champs league exposure. Can’t imagine the English teams would have offered as long a contract or as much money. If i was him id go to Russia, if he busts at least he’ll be set up well financially, and come back to forge a career in the lower leagues

[liamoo11]

Just read an additional article: “Lokomotiv have tabled a four-year deal to Afolabi and they hope the opportunity to play in the Champions League will help persuade him to snub other offers to move to Russia. The Russians are also offering Afolabi a quicker pathway to first-team football with the forward promised he will go straight into the side because of an injury to striker Eder.”

No doubt the money is good as well compared to England. This must be very enticing

Sign that contract quick what an opportunity and a hopefully big payday. Living in Moscow would e a wonderful life experience

[kennedmc]

Apart apart from the racism, Moscow would be a lonely place for a teenager. Very different culture etc. I'm not saying that's bad thing just at that age it could be difficult to settle - different if someone was going there at 27 when they are a lot more mature

better to go somewhere where he will be around surroundings he can be comfortable with to focus on hid football plus have a good chance of playing 1st team ball.

[Demesne Lad]

Common sense comment from kennedmc above.

[Olé Olé]

We urge our players to go abroad sometimes. Moscow, at that age, would surely be a bit of a stretch. Somewhere that is a Ryanair flight away like Amsterdam or Berlin or Madrid!

[Eirambler]

Is in the crowd at Celtic Park today. Their under 23s, who don't have a league to play in, look like they'll have a fourth Irish lad playing for them this season.

Celtic fans pretty unhappy with him signing...Southampton reject etc. Have written him off already. :rolleyes:

[tommy_c12000]

Bit of an anticlimax having watched it closely over the past few weeks. Yera let’s see how he does. Should do pretty well in the poor standard that is the SPL, based on his Armenia performances, and at least he should get a chance. Although nothing has happened for poor Luce yet despite having being promised the world

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/17843909.celtic-set-clinch-deal-southampton-forward-afolabi/

[Eirambler]

Would be surprised if he played too much football there this season with Griffiths and Edouard ahead of him. Celtic basically don't have a left back at the moment and Connell still can't get a look in.

I think Celtic are just taking a punt on these players because it costs them next to nothing. Not great for the two lads' development though.

Maybe he can talk Oko-Flex into rejoining the Irish underage setup.

[liamoo11]

Bit of an anticlimax having watched it closely over the past few weeks. Yera let’s see how he does. Should do pretty well in the poor standard that is the SPL, based on his Armenia performances, and at least he should get a chance. Although nothing has happened for poor Luce yet despite having being promised the world

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/17843909.celtic-set-clinch-deal-southampton-forward-afolabi/

Hopefully Will get a chance though with celtics 3 senior strikers who are already there it may be a battle

[Closed Account]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11787/11787874/jonathan-afolabi-joins-celtic-on-two-year-deal-after-rejecting-southampton-contract

[tommy_c12000]

The more I think about it this is a shocking move for Jonathan. Who are his advisers? Wasted a whole month to come to this decision. Now will take him another month to get him back to match fitness. The rationale for taking his time was in order to find the right move where he would have an excellent chance of first time football. Straight away Lennon is talking about seeing him as a developmental player. A terrible prognostic sign. Scotland is a graveyard for young footballers, you don’t go to the SPL to “develop” the structure is awful. If you’re not playing first team football in Scotland, you’re nowhere. It’s amazing reading the Celtic forum, they’re pretty delusional on the quality that they expect to recruit. Afolabi could actually be an excellent footballer if he’s handled right.

He should have stayed in England where at least there’s a better developmental structure, or grown a pair of balls and take his chances in Spain, or take the train to Moscow with a lucrative 4 year contract and set himself up for life.

Lets see what happens, but as other forum members have pointed out, Lennon is no man to develop young players. And I fear for Afolabi, like I do for Luca every week that goes by without any sign of first team football. Young players will be watching closely what happens with Luca and Jonathan in the next 12 months to see how Lennon handles them, Celtic clearly are courting youngsters very hard to bring them north of the border with promises of riches, but so far it’s been with false pretenses. I can’t imagine Afolabi will be happy with developmental team in the first few weeks which may well happen judging by Lennon’s comments

[Eirambler]

Ya it's a shocking move for him on paper. Most likely will spend the next few months just playing friendlies for their development team. Lennon already under huge pressure as well, which makes it less likely he will give game time to younger players.

[samhaydenjr]

Would be surprised if he played too much football there this season with Griffiths and Edouard ahead of him. Celtic basically don't have a left back at the moment and Connell still can't get a look in.

I think Celtic are just taking a punt on these players because it costs them next to nothing. Not great for the two lads' development though.

Maybe he can talk Oko-Flex into rejoining the Irish underage setup.

Well Obafemi came on board after he arrived at Southampton, so fingers crossed he can influence Oko-Flex


Hopefully Will get a chance though with celtics 3 senior strikers who are already there it may be a battle

I actually think three strikers is quite light - sure, Griffiths and Edouard are the likely starters, but Bayo only has a couple of seasons at Connor Ronan's Slovak side under his belt so there is surely an opening for a squad place with the opportunity for some sub minutes and domestic cup appearances - also, given Edouard's record, it may not be too long before clubs from south of the border start to have a look at him. At this point it looks like he's ready for first team football (as he should be as a 19-year-old with a lot of talent), so Celtic not having a development team shouldn't be too much of a problem. Worst case scenario, he gets loaned out to a Scottish Championship team in the near future to get some first-team football. So maybe it won't be a disaster, after all

[liamoo11]

To be fair to Celtic fans a 19 year old who was released by Southampton and has never played first team football does not sound like someone you would be hopeful of dramatically improving your side on the short term

[youngirish]

I wonder how many actual contract offers Afolabi had for clubs and how much of the interest was actually hyped up by his agent. Surely the vast majority of footballers would move to one of the less fancied Championship teams than anywhere in Scotland if they were truly interested in developing their careers. Same for Connell. He'd probably have even been better suited sticking with Bolton for another year.

[geysir]

......... He'd probably have even been better suited sticking with Bolton for another year. Bolton are in meltdown

[Razors left peg]

Him signing for Celtic doesnt even warrant a mention on their own website!

[tommy_c12000]

Yep saw that. Lennon really keeping him “under the radar.”

[geysir]

The Guardian claim that it's a more normal 3 year deal, not the 2 that Sky reported.

[tetsujin1979]

Three year deal confirmed by Celtic: http://www.celticfc.net/news/16676

[Eirambler]

Lennon saying today that he's looking to bring in 'three or four more' before the Scottish transfer window closes. Hard to see how Afolabi or Connell play much first team football this season to be honest, unless they go out on loan.

[zero]

i can't see lennon still being there past christmas so wouldn't be overly concerned, though if he brings in a load of mediocre players it could prove harder for youngsters to push on.

[Bottle of Tonic]

Celtic's transfer model these days isn't really all about bringing in ready made first team players. They sign a fair amount of prospects with a view to allowing them to bed in for a year or two and then replacing the best players who get sold. When average players cost 20 million these days it's their only chance of getting hold of decent players like Wanyama, Van Djik, Rogic, Christie, Ajer.

Afolabi is one of these prospect signings. Edouard is a class act and will be off in a year. Griffiths has had his personal problems and has been there for a good few years now and won't be getting any better at this rate. So in a year or less there will be a slot available as Celtic's main striker. If Afolabi shows enough in training and as part of the squad to management over the next year then he will get his chance. Its up to him. If he's good enough there's a clear path to him being Celtic's top striker in a year so from that perspective it's not a bad move at all.

If that doesn't come to pass he will have to move on to a lower Scottish club or league 1 club in a bid to get games and establish himself.

[Olé Olé]

I agree with all of this. It is much tougher for a young midfielder like Connell to break in. There are many examples of young Scottish midfielders having to push hard and go on loans to get into the side (Morgan, McGregor, Christie). The strikers get in earlier- like Edouard and Dembele. They get good supply and plenty chances. Take them and you're in great shape. Afolabi looks a mature player which is a help. His path is very clear.

[Stuttgart88]

Connell's path my be clearer the way Bolingoli is defending!

[samhaydenjr]

I agree with all of this. It is much tougher for a young midfielder like Connell to break in. There are many examples of young Scottish midfielders having to push hard and go on loans to get into the side (Morgan, McGregor, Christie). The strikers get in earlier- like Edouard and Dembele. They get good supply and plenty chances. Take them and you're in great shape. Afolabi looks a mature player which is a help. His path is very clear.

I agree with that - I think the lack of development infrastructure at Celtic shouldn't be too much of a hindrance for Afolabi as he appears ready to step up to first team action, having already three years in the Southampton development system. As I noted also, there are only three other forwards in Celtic's first-team squad, which means there's a good chance we'll be seeing him on the bench reasonably soon. There is one other aspect of Celtic which might aid him, and that is the much-maligned imbalance in the Scottish Premiership, which has left Celtic as the dominant force over the past few years. Here's how this could help him: on eight or nine occasions each season over the past two, Celtic have led by three or more goals at around the 75 minute mark, essentially meaning the tie is over as a contest. This gives the manager, whether it's Lennon or somebody else, an incentive to withdraw his main strikers to rest up for bigger contests and test the other forwards at his disposal - hopefully this will work to Afolabi's advantage in getting some reasonable game time.

[Stuttgart88]

I agree with that - I think the lack of development infrastructure at Celtic shouldn't be too much of a hindrance for Afolabi as he appears ready to step up to first team action, having already three years in the Southampton development system. As I noted also, there are only three other forwards in Celtic's first-team squad, which means there's a good chance we'll be seeing him on the bench reasonably soon. There is one other aspect of Celtic which might aid him, and that is the much-maligned imbalance in the Scottish Premiership, which has left Celtic as the dominant force over the past few years. Here's how this could help him: on eight or nine occasions each season over the past two, Celtic have led by three or more goals at around the 75 minute mark, essentially meaning the tie is over as a contest. This gives the manager, whether it's Lennon or somebody else, an incentive to withdraw his main strikers to rest up for bigger contests and test the other forwards at his disposal - hopefully this will work to Afolabi's advantage in getting some reasonable game time.
Making the Europa League ought to encourage some squad rotation too.

[geysir]

I'd be more concerned if it were only a one or 2 year deal, 3 years is a good sign of confidence in him. He could be farmed out on loan for half a season.

[Eirambler]

Celtic looking like bringing in at least one more senior forward before the window shuts.

[tommy_c12000]

Not sure what to believe out there any more but not surprised if this is true as Afolabi was truly impressive to my eye during the Euro 19s. Lennon “blown away” by him in training. Possibility of him seeing a taste of first team action soon:
https://www.footballinsider247.com/never-before-seen-celtic-player-set-for-major-role-after-lennon-blown-away-in-training-sources/amp/ (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.footballinsider247.com/never-before-seen-celtic-player-set-for-major-role-after-lennon-blown-away-in-training-sources/amp/)

A couple of injuries at right back have pushed O’Connor up in the pecking order. And Lennon name checking Connell as being injured when discussing first team squad is also promising. I’m cautiously optimistic. Especially when thinking of the potential to re-ignite the Celtic and Ireland link, I’d imagine there’s pressure from upstairs to give one of them a chance. Would be fruitful for all in the longer term, certainly not too much to lose given the standard (or absence) of competition in the SPL

[Stuttgart88]

I agree Tommy, Afolabi really stood out in the 19s. Strong, fast and powerful.

[Olé Olé]

Absolutely brilliant at running the channels but good coming short. And a finishing game that's improving all the time. Cracker.

[tommy_c12000]

Scored in first half for reserves vs Motherwell. O’Connor and Connell also starting. Armstrong Okoflex and Coffey on bench. Connell featuring prominently on the twitter updates https://mobile.twitter.com/celticfcacademy?lang=en

Celtic play Hamilton at home in Wednesday evening. Let’s hope one of our boys feature here with Lennon needing to rest players prior to weekends league cup final

[Eirambler]

It's honestly depressing watching these lads wasting their time playing Motherwell reserves and the likes. Why have Scotland produced so few top level players in the last 20 years? Because Celtic and Rangers are clubs where good young players go to watch their careers stagnate, playing reserve football at Leinster Senior League level while their contemporaries are getting a proper footballing education with Premier league and championship clubs. Meanwhile the two clubs constantly fill their senior team with mediocre signings from around the world so that their youth players never get any first team experience.

What someone like Lee O'Connor was thinking going there is beyond me, I think these lads think because it's Scotland they'll stroll into the first team. But it rarely works out like that and the development system here is a shambles.

If none of them get a start Wednesday night then we can forget about them playing for Celtic any time soon. Maybe a few January loans can save their seasons.

[Stuttgart88]

Rumour has it he has been impressing Lennon and is getting close to the senior team.

[tetsujin1979]

Nice finish, at 2:40
53ueEh7zuxc

[tommy_c12000]

Well done to Jonathan on his first senior goal. Hopefully the first of many

[tommy_c12000]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4iCrxhZzhuc

Afolabi’s goal at 10:30 on this amateur video. Nice finish. The wee lad videoing is pretty entertaining

[Eirambler]

He's playing alongside a very highly eared young Scottish striker at Dunfermline, Kevin Nisbet. Would be good to see them strike up a successful partnership from now until the end of the season.

[samhaydenjr]

Second goal for Afolabi, this time from the spot: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51685537

[Eirambler]

Doesn't seem to be impressing the Pars fans so far going by their forum. You'd still hope the loan will be beneficial for him though, certainly better than playing youth football with Celtic.

[samhaydenjr]

Doesn't seem to be impressing the Pars fans so far going by their forum. You'd still hope the loan will be beneficial for him though, certainly better than playing youth football with Celtic.

Yeah definitely - I mean, he's obviously not the finished product yet, having only turned 20 and just made the step up to senior football. So even if he isn't completely impressing Dunfermline supporters, two goals in his first five games is a decent return - let's hope he continues to improve

[DeLorean]

Could be worse - Lee O'Connor was an unused sub for Partick Thistle at the weekend.

[paul_oshea]

Could be a rude awakening for Kenny yet.

[CraftyToePoke]

Could be a rude awakening for Kenny yet.

Might have the makings of a good - where are they now - type article alright in a couple of years, would you say ?