ADAM IDAH has already admitted he was happy with his 20-goal haul last season.
The Republic of Ireland international striker was clearly satisfied with his striking rate and revealed he was aiming for 30 in the forthcoming campaign, as CQN reported earlier in the month.
However, former Celtic hitman Chris Sutton insists Idah, who sealed a £9.2million permanent switch from Norwich City last summer, must IMPROVE and that the champions still a new attack-leader.
Shin Yamada, impressive in his 45 minutes against Al-Ahli in Como at the weekend, arrived in a £1.3million move from J-League Kawasaki Frontale, but the one-time England international reckons his old club have yet to find a successor to Kyogo Furuhashi who left for Rennes in a £10million deal in January.
POWERHOUSE…Adam Idah celebrates one of his 20 Celtic goals last season.
The former Hoops fans’ favourite, who collected 85 goals in his three and a half years at Parkhead, is back in the UK with Championship side Birmingham City after things mystifyingly didn’t work out in France.
Sutton said: “I never understood why Celtic sold Kyogo and I don’t understand how they haven’t replaced him.
“He’s somehow ended up at Birmingham City. He was brilliant in the big games for Celtic. Clever player, really intelligent.
“People can point out that he didn’t do well at Rennes, but he did pretty well at Celtic.”
Looking at Idah, Sutton, speaking in report in the Daily Record, continued: “Numbers-wise last season, he did well, but he has to show greater consistency. I think he knows that.
“Bottom line is, Kyogo went and Idah came in. He scored goals in the Champions League and he performed well, but then in other games, Brendan Rodgers didn’t play him.
PUT IT THERE…Brendan Rodgers and Adam Idah during Celtic’s 3-0 win over St Mirren in Paisley in August last year.
“So, that sort of tells you everything you need to know where Brendan’s at. He was signed as a development player. We have to understand that.
“He was £9million, wasn’t he? That’s the market Celtic are in, with Arne Engels, as well. He cost £11million and I understand that’s a lot of money in Scotland. But you look at down south, it’s nothing.
“People judge Adam Idah. I think he could be cleaner at times in some of his link-up play and there’s improvements to be had.
“He’ll know that, but he’s also a threat.
“You just hope it all comes together. When he first came, he sort of proved me wrong in terms of his finishing. Over the piece, it appears Brendan’s happy with him.
“But think Celtic need to bring another striker in. It doesn’t matter me saying that. I think Brendan said the same thing in January.
“He wanted to replace Kyogo. Essentially, they didn’t do so.”
Sutton added: “I think left-back is still an issue, as well, although the signing of Kieran Tierney is really exciting. They’ve also got Hayato Inamura in, but I still believe that is an area of concern.
“I think Greg Taylor’s a loss playing in that inverted role and he’s going to be really difficult to replace in that respect.
“Jeffrey Schlupp’s gone back and he’s ended up at Norwich, but that’s an area in which Celtic are short.”
