Rodgers has struck gold on “tenacious” Celtic sensation

After a really uncommon defeat final Sunday, can Celtic get their pursuit of yet one more treble again on observe?

Final outing, the Hoops had been overwhelmed by the aspect backside of the Scottish Premiership for the primary time in twenty years, defeated 1-0 by struggling St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

This truly means Brendan Rodgers’ aspect have misplaced three of their final six Premiership fixtures, having solely endured two defeats throughout their earlier 46 league outings.

However, this’ll merely delay the occasion, and a record-equalling fifty fifth Scottish top-flight title may very well be secured as quickly as this weekend, if Celtic are capable of beat Kilmarnock in Saturday’s early kick, after which Rangers are overwhelmed at Aberdeen 24 hours later.

Loads of gamers are getting the plaudits for the Bhoys’ continued monopolisation of Scottish silverware, however one unsung hero goes beneath the radar, paying homage to a followers’ favorite of yesteryear.

Aaron Mooy’s Celtic profession

Aaron Mooy solely made 42 appearances for Celtic throughout one season in Glasgow, however he actually left a long-lasting impression.

He arrived in July 2022, reuniting with Ange Postecoglou, who’d beforehand been his supervisor with the Socceroos, though there have been query marks about this transfer, contemplating the Australian had made simply 31 appearances throughout his two-year spell with Shanghai Port; Chinese language soccer massively affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Eric Knott of Learn Celtic described the signing as ‘underwhelming’, including that the transfer ‘won’t work out’, whereas Sean Martin of the Celtic Approach didn’t imagine the signing made sense.

Quite the opposite, Mooy proved to be an especially helpful addition, registering seven objectives and 11 assists, that is a aim involvement each 110 minutes on common.

Postecoglou acknowledged there’s “no doubting” Mooy’s high quality however, after the supervisor departed for Tottenham, the midfielder introduced his retirement from soccer, information incoming boss Rodgers stated he was “disillusioned” to study, though this was “one thing we completely respect”.

So now, is a present Celtic midfielder having the same impression, albeit a participant they’re going to hope to have round for longer than one season?

Celtic may now be brewing the subsequent Mooy

After Hibernian had made 4 unsuccessful bids to signal him final summer season, Celtic finally snapped up Dundee midfielder Luke McCowan on deadline day, paying £1m plus add-ons for his providers.

Provided that the Hoops had additionally simply signed Arne Engles for a club-record charge, with Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Paulo Bernardo already within the squad, many questioned how a lot the 27-year-old would truly play.

Effectively, to this point, this has been cash nicely spent, with McCowan scoring six objectives and accumulating seven assists in hoops, presently ranked joint-14th on this season’s Premiership for aim involvements.

His supervisor Rodgers labelled McCowan as “incredible”, including that he has been “completely firstclass”, whereas Michael Shearer of the Celts Are Right here praised his ‘excellent performances’.

So, let’s examine how his statistics examine to Mooy’s from a few seasons in the past.

In a near-identical variety of minutes to this point, McCowan – who author Kai Watson lauded as “tenacious” – comes out on high when compares to Mooy for the overwhelming majority of metrics.

The present Celtic star has registered extra objectives and assists this season, whereas additionally racking up larger numbers in relation to pictures and touches in addition to defensive metrics comparable to duels gained and ball recoveries.

Mooy did create another probability and register a barely larger passing accuracy, there’s nonetheless time for McCowan to alter that in fact, however all of this proves that the 27-year-old was an absolute discount at solely £1m.