I wonder if it was maybe an obligation to buy that Celtic turned down, as it would seem crazy to turn down an option to buy that you can simply pass on if the loan doesn't work out. But whichever it was they're certainly going to have to pay a fair bit more now if they want him permanently. Even at 6 or 7 million though he'd be a good value signing. He scores goals and he's only just turned 23, so they could get him for two or three years and potentially sell him for a lot more than that down the line. Tall, strong, quick strikers who actually score goals are not easy to find so anything under £10m would be a relative bargain here.
Celtic supporters are struggling to accept their current place in world football and it's showing in how they feel about players like Idah and Scales. Scales has been great for them this year, including yesterday, but they dislike the idea that a player from the League of Ireland who didn't stand out at Aberdeen last season represents an improvement for them.
Similarly Idah was third choice striker at Norwich in the Championship as recently as January but has come in and massively improved Celtic. The reality of that is tough for their supporters to take, that they used to have Sutton and Larsson but they're no more than a mid table Championship equivalent team now. So they try to convince themselves that's not the case by saying Idah isn't good enough for them and then go in search of more exotic sounding players from around Europe who usually turn out to be crap.
For me arguably the most positive thing about the last four months for Idah is that he's actually had a good run without injury. His habit of picking up injuries is probably the biggest risk for Celtic in terms of signing him but their supporters don't even realise that's a potential issue as they know nothing about his career before this year.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024...inning-strike/
Rodgers effusive.
I didn't see the game so catching up. Apparently played well and held up the ball to see the game out. Also pushed Diomande onto his backside. So the fans are happy with him on the forum. There are still posters weighing him up with Bojan Miovski and capping what should be paid for him.
Just shows the bias that's there towards a more exotic sounding player among their support. Miovski has scored one goal in his last 10 games for Aberdeen despite playing 90 minutes week on week and is two years older than Idah. I'm sure he'd probably score a few more at Celtic but there's nothing to suggest he's any sort of upgrade on Idah.
I don't think there's exactly a clan Idah with their own tartan in fairness.
You're being unfair on Miovski too, who scored 26 in all competitions this season for a team in the bottom half and is hardly over the hill at 24. Also he has 4 in his last 10, not 1?
He's the kind of player Celtic fans will be used to signing - someone doing well for a non-Old Firm side. It might suit their ego in a way signing a guy who couldn't make it at Norwich wouldn't.
Course the fans won't be making the signings, and a couple more goals against Rangers will end any lingering "We should have signed the other guy" debate. Wouldn't be too worried about fan gossip.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 26/05/2024 at 3:35 PM.
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
It's been a good loan but won't be first cho8ce if he signs. He has won the double and scored big goals in 5 months I'd like to see him moving on especially if that seria A interest was still there for another new experience
Yep, I thought the same. I’ve been critical of his striker’s instinct in the past and an inability to anticipate but this was pure Robbie, Inzaghi even.
BBC Scotland’s Sportscene highlights show focused on his run, weaving and deceiving the defender before heading for goal. He read early that Bernardo was shaping for the shot and anticipated the result.
His finish was good too, knowing he had to put it under Butland.
What a moment.
Rodgers was gushing in his praise, saying Celtic’s strong finish to the season was catalysed by Idah’s arrival and that there’s more to come from him.
it’s gone down to 15 mins now I see.
Handy job. Yawn. It was a handy job that Oh wasn’t up to.
Players have come from the Dutch league and struggled and gone from Scotland to Netherlands and done well.
The league is good enough to supply international teams better than ours with starting players. But it seems to be Celtic fans that are delusional about their place in the game (as one or two above have said) not Ireland fans.
Celtic is a perfectly good career option for any player good enough to get in the team but a notch or two below what’s needed at the top end of the game.
And a player with an injury history like Idah’s really doesn’t need a 46 game Saturday-Tuesday Championship season.
Your post is way off the mark by a country mile. I don’t know what Celtic games you have been watching but when Idah first came to Celtic he was seriously unfit, a bumbling carthorse of a player, not up to the pace of the SL. He has seriously improved as a player in these months since and I’d put a lot of that down to Rodgers and of course Idah’s renewed application. he has been used relatively sparingly.
As Celtic are only starting with one upfront, that spot will likely go to Kyogo but the nr 2 will see plenty of gametime.
As regards Idah and the Celtic fans, there’s a consensus that he should get a contract, not only that but hes top of the list, unknown issue is that afaia there is no set fee.
New Norwich manager Thorup acknowledges that it would "be stupid” not to evaluate Idah before making any decisions on the forward's future. “He's an exciting player,” Thorup said last week. “.... he's been in the club so many years and can do dangerous stuff up front. He's fast, he moves well, he gets into these areas in the box where you decide games."
Club chief opens up on Leeds 'target' as Idah to Celtic update issued (thestar.co.uk)
That's quite an odd take. Scales hasn't been great. He's stepped up well and done alright but Celtic can do better. He's ponderous and ineffective in possession and Celtic's centre halves find themselves with the ball quite a bit as they generally face into weaker opponents playing a low block. He's also susceptible to balls over the top. He had a good performance at Ibrox in the earlier part of the season but as the months have passed opponents are content to let him have the ball and come forward as he tends to make the wrong choices. Celtic are still capable of identifying and signing players of the quality of Carter Vickers and O'Riley and the club has somewhere in excess of £60m cash in the bank, it's not unreasonable for the fans to expect better.
Idah is a tricky one for Celtic. He's scored some important goals but he also had some very ineffectual performances. He's brilliant at rolling a defender but his positional awareness is a bit all over the place and he's prone to erratic finishing. He applied himself well and brought a good attitude to the loan deal and both parties definitely got something from it but the fee being sought by Norwich is probably too risky. For a larger Championship club I think he'd be a relatively low risk signing for the same price.
I get the feeling there's a message here that they're just not quite getting across to me...
Clearly.
The more respectable rumours report that Celtic have made a bid, albeit a puny GBP4m. Norwich are rumored to be looking for over GBP 8m. It is also rumored that Rodgers is in on the lead on this matter.
Probably will end up at Gbp 6m+. If Norwich stick to their GBP 8m, Rodgers will walk away.
Should it happen, considering Idah is already a Celt at heart and everybody knows how he can handle himself in the pressure games v Rangers and on other occasions, it's all looking good for Idah.
Just a thought on his performance in that one friendly too far v Portugal, on one occasion he was poleaxed by Pepe, later on in a similar situation the 'great' Pepe ended up on floor writhing in agony.
Played the first half-hour of Norwich's 3-0 friendly defeat against Club Brugge in Belgium this week. Bit of a weird time to come off, though apparently it was planned. Norwich made another change at half-time, nine on the hour mark, and in fact a 12th sub later on.
But of course if he's in Belgium, he's not getting any further on the move to Celtic. Seems the new manager still wants to evaluate him before making any transfer decisions.
His agent would be dealing with any transfer stuff
I think he meant the fact he's in Belgium would indicate Norwich aren't even currently looking to negotiate with anyone and the manager has his own ideas.
All the talk is Idah has made very clear he wants to leave. Surely it's in Norwich's best interest to get a deal done and not be stuck with an unhappy player hanging around the club.
Leaving him behind wouldn't have been a great tactic when negotiating a fee. He'll be a Norwich player until he isn't and they'll see an opportunity to squeeze a few extra quid out of Celtic here. Highly likely he'll move before the end of the summer though.
I'd like him to move, but if I was a new manager at a club I'd probably want a look at a fella who scored a winner in a cup final for Celtic too, and might want to keep hold of him. Adam seems a nice fella who probably won't start a riot if he's told to stay, but by god he'd need assurances that he's #1 or he is wasting his career.
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