SHIM MHEUKA has barely played half-an-hour of football for Celtic, but Martin O’Neill believes the teenage striker possesses the ability to go all the way to the top.
The Birmingham-born Chelsea wonderboy, who will not be 19 until next month, has impressed the Hoops gaffer following his second-half substitute performances against Aberdeen at Parkhead in midweek and St Mirren in Paisley last night.
The champions picked up maximum points in both games as they maintained their 100 per cent league record after five matches.
MIGHTY MHEUKA…Martin O’Neill has high hopes for on-loan Chelsea teenage striker Shim Mheuka after just two brief outings for Celtic.
There is every chance Mheuka will get another opportunity to shine against St Johnstone in Perth on Wednesday evening as Scotland’s title kings continue to lay the foundations for their bid for a sixth successive championship.
The powerfully-built youngster has been a late replacement for Camilo Duran in his two outings so far and, with Kasper Hogh still struggling with an injury, he could become a pivotal player in O’Neill’s matchday squad.
The veteran team chief is convinced the hitkid is going to make a huge impact in the game and insisted: “He is, honestly.
“He could be a proper player in time.
“I could see him starting, very easily. This is the whole point, we’ve got a couple of players who deep down you don’t really know exactly what they can do.
“Of course, we’ve studied them, but we know more after they’ve been thrown into these games.
“I was speaking to wee Mika Baur afterwards and I said: ‘Mika, these games are hard.’
“He’s played in the Bundesliga Second Division, he just got into the big league.
“Sometimes they don’t realise how hard they are. But Big Shim looks as if he wants to adjust to it.”
NO GOAL…Shim Mheika strokes the ball wide of St Mirren keeper Jacob Chapman for what looked his first goal for Celtic, but VAR and referee Ryan Lee had other ideas.
The teen ace thought he had claimed his first Hoops goal when he outmuscled Alex Gogic to race clear before slipping the ball under exposed keeper Jacob Chapman.
It looked good until VAR interrupted and referee Ryan Lee was called to his touchline monitor before ruling it out for offside.
Welcome to Scotland, Shim!
Looking again at the team’s overall performance, O’Neill, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “St Mirren did not surprise me at all, not in the least.
“They were really up for it, they played very, very well indeed, caused us plenty of problems and, of course, took the lead.
“There was a 10 or 15 minute spell in the first-half where I thought that we were well and truly second best.
“We came out with renewed energy, renewed determination in the second-half, got the equalising goal, went on to win it. But it was a tough evening for us.”
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