When Shane Duffy arrived on loan at Celtic last season, many fans had felt that he was exactly the type of player that the club needed. An old school defender with Premier League experience, who had grown up supporting the Hoops, it seemed like a dream combination.
Duffy’s spell at Celtic was nothing short of a nightmare for the Republic of Ireland international though. After a bright start, he struggled at the back for the Hoops and soon found himself completely out of the first-team picture.
Now back at Brighton & Hove Albion, he has enjoyed an unexpected career revival and is very much a part of Graham Potter’s first-team plans. The Seagulls have made a brilliant start to the season and are currently sitting at sixth in the Premier League table, on the same number of points as Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton.
As reported by the Daily Record, Duffy admitted that things could have gone very differently for him after the year he had performance-wise:
"“I’m really grateful for it. A lot of managers, if it doesn’t work out and especially the year I had performance-wise, I could have been with the 18s, 23s and then been finding a new club.”"
Duffy had a nightmare loan spell at Celtic
It just didn’t work out for Duffy at Celtic. Whether it was the timing of the move or just the fact that he was not the right fit for the Hoops.
Celtic play a possession-based style of football while passing is not one of Duffy’s strongest suits. It also appeared that at times, he was suffering from a lack of confidence. Maybe it was just not the right move for the Republic of Ireland defender.
It is great to see him doing well at Brighton & Hove Albion and we can only wish him the best of luck moving forward and hope he has a successful season.
On the other hand, defence has remained a worry for the Hoops and it is an area they need to improve in as soon as possible if they are to challenge for titles.