Are Celtic poised to appoint a new manager?
According to widespread reports, Celtic have been given permission to speak to Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy, talks that have taken place over the weekend.
The Frenchman has won both MLS Cup and Leagues Cup in charge of the Black and Gold, very much now the front-runner to take over the reins from Martin O’Neill.
Should Nancy swap Ohio for Glasgow, he would have a big job on his hands to put together a cohesive team, considering the Celts’ current injury crisis and poorly constructed squad.
So, which player is in danger of becoming the new Luis Palma following an underwhelming start to their career in hoops?
Why Luis Palma failed at Celtic
Few players have made such a bright start to their Celtic career only to disappear into oblivion quite as quickly as Palma.
After arriving from Aris Thessaloniki in August 2023, the Honduran made an electrifying start to his time in Glasgow.
He scored four goals in his first eight Premiership appearances, bagging ten goals across his first season all told, including netting against both Atlético Madrid and Feyenoord in home Champions League matches, as well as heartbreakingly seeing a last-gasp winner against Lazio disallowed by VAR too.
However, last season, Palma very much found himself no longer in Brendan Rodgers’ plan, seeing a miserly 267 minutes of action before being loaned out to Olympiacos for the second half of the campaign.
After scoring just one goal in 12 appearances for the Greek giants, he joined Lech Poznań on loan this summer, and is seemingly loving life in Poland.
To date, Palma has scored six goals for the Railwayman, on target against both Rapid Wien and Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League, producing this rather iconic celebration after netting against Widzew Łódź during a 2-1 Ekstraklasa victory at Stadion Poznań in September.
Lech, who have won two of the last four Polish titles, have a €4m (around £3.5m) option to buy Palma at the end of the season, but this would shatter their current transfer record of €2.3m, paid to sign Yannick Agnero from Halmstad earlier this year.
Nevertheless, after a promising start to his Celtic career, Palma appears to have no future at Parkhead, but who could become the latest exciting attacking signing to depart as quickly as they arrived?
Celtic's next Luis Palma
Having left themselves woefully short in attacking areas, Celtic rather went on a trolley dash towards the end of the transfer window.
Benjamin Nygren, who joined back in June, has looked excellent so far, while both Sebastian Tounekti and Kelechi Iheanacho have shown promising signs, but the same cannot be said of Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
The winger had been on Celtic’s radar for a long time, his move to Glasgow delayed by 12 months due to injury, belatedly arriving from Royal Antwerp for a reported fee of £5m.
However, so far, the 24-year-old has not justified that price tag, as the table below documents.
Minutes
317
22nd
Appearances
12
14th
Goals
0
16th
Assists
2
5th
Big chances created
1
15th
Key passes per 90
0.4
13th
As the table highlights, Balikwisha has made very little impact so far, yet to score for the Celts, while registering two assists, these coming against Motherwell and Partick Thistle.
Of his 12 appearances, only two have come from the start, included in the lineup for his first two Premiership matches against Rangers and Kilmarnock, thereby not starting a game since 14 September.
Upon his arrival, then-manager Rodgers labelled him a “really talented, exciting player” who “loves to attack and can play both sides”, while scout António Mango was also impressed by his form at Antwerp, describing him as a “terrific talent”, albeit Celtic supporters have seen very little of this to date.
As well as changing clubs recently, Balikwisha has made a big decision regarding his international future, switching his allegiance from Belgium to DR Congo, a request approved by FIFA earlier this month.
He was thereby included in Sébastien Desabre’s squad for the first time ahead of this month’s fixtures, an unused substitute as the Leopards beat Cameroon 1-0 in their World Cup play-off semi-final on Thursday night.
This means, alongside Tounekti of Tunisia, Balikwisha is set to be absent for Celtic during the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning he has seven matches in which to kick-start his career at Parkhead before that tournament commences in Morocco.
However, should Nancy arrive, this may be bad news considering that, across all 136 matches in charge of Columbus Crew, the Frenchman always deployed a 3-4-2-1 formation, a shape that does not contain any wingers, which is exactly what Balikwisha was signed to be.
Thus, similar to Palma, there is clearly a talented player in there, albeit the early signs are, despite a sizable transfer fee, Balikwisha is not going to fulfil his potential at Celtic.
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