Celtic added one name to their roster on deadline day, signing Adam Idah from Norwich City on loan for the rest of the campaign. The Hoops needed to sign a striker and were linked with names like Bojan Miovski, Lawrence Shankland, Mathias Kvistgaarden, Danny Ings and Sydney van Hooijdonk. Unsurprisingly, the arrival of the Republic of Ireland international has been met with disappointment by a large section of the support.
Many even believed that Brendan Rodgers was not particularly pleased with the move. They pointed towards the fact that the manager's comments were missing from his announcement.
That does not appear to be the case at all though. On the contrary, it looks like Rodgers rates Idah very highly and even drew comparisons with Moussa Dembele.
That is high praise indeed when you consider what Dembele achieved at Celtic. Since leaving the club, he has gone on to have a very decent career as well. If Idah does half as good, his time at Parkhead would be considered a success.
Celtic boss makes unexpected claim about Idah
As reported by Glasgow Times, Rodgers said while talking about Idah:
"I said before that if I was bringing in players, I wanted to bring in better.
“I’ve had players like this before who people maybe doubt but he’s still young. He’s 22-years of age. But he has genuine quality. If I can unlock that with him…he has everything."
Mentioning Dembele's move to Celtic, Rodgers added:
"I remember when Moussa Dembele came up here, the qualities he had.
“Adam, his goals to game ratio, and having arguably played at a higher level, is arguably greater.
“Moussa went on and had a brilliant career here and I’m hoping Adam can do that as well. Because he’s quick, big, strong and has a nice touch."
So, it looks like Rodgers has high hopes from Idah. And his comments should raise the expectations of the Celtic support as well, many of whom had already written the striker off before the move was even made official.
Of course, at the end of the day, it will be all about results. Idah clearly has a ton of potential but so far, he has not scored goals consistently. If he can do that at Celtic, he will soon be considered a hero by the same people who had written him off. If not, his time at Parkhead will be brief and another in a long line of transfer mistakes.