Celtic hit gold on “phenomenal” star

Is there a genuine title race in Scotland this year, one not involving Rangers?

On Sunday, Celtic fought back from 2-1 down to beat Motherwell 3-2 at Parkhead, with Daizen Maeda heading home a late winner, getting on the end of Michel-Ange Balikwisha’s cross.

However, Brendan Rodgers’ side, who are yet to lose, are not top of the table, still two points adrift unbeaten Heart of Midlothian, following their last-gasp winner in the Edinburgh derby; the top two meet in a huge clash at Tynecastle on 26 October.

If the Celts are going to secure a fifth successive Premiership title, which would be a 14th crown in 15 seasons, their attacking summer signings will be key – and not just Sebastian Tounekti.

Sebastian Tounekti’s start to life at Celtic

In desperate need of attacking reinforcements, Celtic signed Tounekti from Hammarby for a reported fee of £5.2m on deadline day.

Many believed the club had overpaid for the Tunisian international but, so far, he has impressed in hoops.

The winger bagged his first goal for the club against Partick Thistle in the League Cup, starting all three Premiership matches as well as both in the Europa League since arriving.

Thus, Tounekti is currently Rodgers’ first-choice option on the left flank, forcing last season’s top-scorer Daizen Maeda over to the right, with left-back Kieran Tierney labelling him a “joy to play with” following the aforementioned win at Firhill.

Nevertheless, Celtic did actually sign an attacker for free this summer who is estimated to have an even higher transfer value.

Celtic’s prolific new attacker

Farcically, at the time the transfer window slammed shut, Celtic were left without a senior centre-forward, with Adam Idah having been sold to Swansea for around £7m, while the club’s fledgling attempt to sign Kasper Dolberg, who had no interest in coming, surprisingly did not transpire.

Thus, left with 24 hours to secure the signature of a free agent before the UEFA squad registration deadline, the club picked up Kelechi Iheanacho, only available to join because Sevilla agreed to terminate his contract, after he scored zero La Liga goals for los Nervionenses.

The table below documents the Nigerian’s recent downturn in form, hence why he has so far exceeded expectations.

As the table outlines, since first bursting onto the scene at Manchester City a decade ago, Iheanacho has only reached double figures in terms of goals in a single campaign twice, doing so in back-to-back campaigns, featuring his best-ever year, which remains 2020/21 during lockdown.

However, that could be about to change.

The Nigerian converted a stoppage-time match-winning penalty at Kilmarnock on debut, subsequently netting against Crvena zvezda in Belgrade and during the weekend win over Motherwell.

Upon his arrival in Glasgow, Rodgers, who had previously been his manager at Leicester, lauded him as a “phenomenal” talent in the past, while Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout labels him a “prolific” goalscorer.

As a result, Transfermarkt estimates that his current market value is around €4.5m (£3.9m), while Tounekti’s current estimated value is at just €4m (£3.4m), albeit is on the up.

Any Celtic striker, given that the Hoops dominate every domestic match they play, will get plenty of opportunities to score plenty of goals, but the early signs are that snapping up Iheanacho was something of a masterstroke, given that he could prove to be a bargain.