Lewis Morgan has had a difficult shift this season. The 23-year-old winger was used sparingly as a squad player before the concurrent absences of Odsonne Edouard, Leigh Griffiths and Bayo saw him drafted into the striker role against Rennes on 28th November.
Lewis scored a good goal that day but he is not a striker. He made another four appearances in that position before Edouard’s return, which brought the experiment to an end. He made 17 appearances in League One for Sunderland during the second half of last season. In the Wembley play-off final, he was brought on as an early substitute, while Aiden McGeady remained on the bench, but his time in the North East was not particularly productive.
Now he is Going to Miami for talks with Inter (not that one), with the MLS side having agreed a fee with Celtic for his permanent transfer.
There are several things about our experience with Lewis Morgan I like. Celtic scouts considered him the top talent in the Championship, a player with the potential to make the step up. It is good that we sign players like this.
He was loaned back to St Mirren, then after six months at Lennoxtown, out to Sunderland. He was given a chance in the qualifiers, then put through the striker turmoil, which gave Neil Lennon a chance to assess the player.
The player has a League Cup winner’s medal and a Wembley experience, things that he will be talking about for the rest of his life, and is likely to sign a contract to keep him in Florida for a few years. He would have hoped to hold down a first team place at Celtic, but on balance, the move from St Mirren has worked out well for him.
We have difficulty keeping players who are outstandingly successful, but they usually leave a for fee that allows us to further strengthen. What happens with players who do not make the grade is also important. Getting them off the wage bill, for a fee and hopefully a profit, stops the budget from being clogged by unproductive costs, a problem we have discussed on these pages since the days of Martin.
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sid on 11th January 2020 6:51 pm
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You’d have to drop Brown or McGregor to fit him, unless we plan on playing all 3?
The huddle, i would personally play all 3 in the bigger games but the point is we’re bringing in a player who has played at a higher level than any of our squad, you relying on either player being injury free?
It’s a squad game , Wanyama comes in and immediately Brown and McGregor have to raise their game to keep their place. We also need players who won’t get bullied against Sevco.
Gene – it’s not about replacing anyone it’s about having quality in numbers and enable us to play horses for courses.
Play him beside Broonie in tougher games and Cal Mac 1 forward to allow us to utilise his skill and vision.
D. :)
Lazio watch: 3 points off top after their tenth consecutive victory
If we brought him in, and on that sort of wage, I’d be expecting him to play every game until the end of this season.
Playing all 3 would mean dropping an attacker like Christie, meaning our goal threat drops big time.
If he signs, I hope it kickstarts his career, but got a feeling he’s well past his best despite only being 28.
When do Celtic come home?
Play Christie and Elyanoussi when fit there is your 5.
Vic or someone drops out and Jamsie in or rotate. Good option to have
D. :)
We need to pick the right team to win games, four ahead of the ball, who cannot be supplied or when they do dont retain it was the problem against them, the manager took far too long to change it, and then when he did they defended by throwing themselves in front of everything denying us a draw, I wouldnt be signing Wanyama as someone to be fit and ready to play, already in Dubai we have another 3 injured Johnston needs a thigh scan, Hatem a different part of his groin is injured now and Rogic is again injured , we need folk ready to play and the manager to fight fire with fire from now on.
Dessybhoy
So they don’t just get injured at Lennoxtown 🤔
Gene on 11th January 2020 7:15 pm
Dessybhoy
So they don’t just get injured at Lennoxtown 🤔
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At least we can finally put that to bed :O)
THE_HUDDLE on 11TH JANUARY 2020 7:05 PM
If we brought him in, and on that sort of wage, I’d be expecting him to play every game until the end of this season.
Aye and make aw the rolls n sqwaar and nip doon for the mortons……….not to mention the pies and beans
Gene The Huddle
NL was smiling the other day after in his words a full on session with bumps and bruises expected.
fourstonecoppi on 11th January 2020 7:23 pm
Aye and make aw the rolls n sqwaar and nip doon for the mortons……….not to mention the pies and beans
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Well no, I’d just want him to play football, seems a bit off that you’d expect him to do two jobs.
The only consolation we have is, as players leave and others get injured and others don’t recover from injury and we don’t sign anyone, is that Ibrox have not signed anyone either.
Watch the balloon go up if they do?
Will it be Shankland? It might be.
If only Spurs had played Wanyama 😉
Shankland is a very good goalscorer/poacher.Can be out of the game for spells.Watched the last Dundee derby.They marked him out of the game for 88 minutes,and he nearly stole it.Good enough?.No idea.
Sid @ 7.02:
If we bully the ‘bullies’ Mr. Ref. will be watching…….as we crawl towards 9.
The Lawrence Shankland window.
Probably.
so we buy the Dundee Utd player and loan him to them for the rest of the season.
Why would he be loaned to Utd, they’ve already won that league
Shankland- no thanks, what is happening is the end of Griffiths at Celtic unfortunately, I really hope I’m wrong…..but a decision needs to be made and we can all move on IMO
could be the only way they would entertain selling him this window other than an over inflated price.
Bringing Griffiths on for the last 3 to 5 minutes of a match won’t tell us if he can still cut it or not. Griff has had a lengthy and thorough rehab , surely enough to let the manager know if he has a future or not. It’s not looking particularly good for Griff.
ok ghuys, ive been going thru hell all day about what im going to post, but im going to do it and get off your faces,, big jimmy god bless I hope everything goes well on Wednesday, and you come back stronger you ae only a year younger than me, and I had a bad chest infection over Christmas which nearly floored me, nothing remotely to which you have gone thru, hope you see this the way it was intended.,god bless.hh.
Just a couple of things – firstly Leigh Griffiths. In September 2018 he signed a new four year deal on increased terms, on becoming a 100 goal scorer. Soon afterwards Brendan Rodgers announced that Griffiths needed time away from his job, and since then he has hardly featured.
The juxtaposition of new contract and ‘downing tools’ intrigues me. The racecourse appearance whilst apparently sick and the recent Dubai yacht photo puzzle me.
Don’t know what I think about him personally, however I belueve his Celtic career to be over. If it is, no doubt there will be much written in its aftermath.
BRUTALITY. I have been scouring records to find if any other player in Scotland has ever been labelled brutal and banned for it – can’t find anything. If anyone knows please put me right.
Celtic cannot allow this ‘brutal’ conviction to stand against Ryan. I hope there are strong moves planned for the coming week.
Griffiths has 2.5 years remaining on his deal, I would guess he is on around £20k per week. The coaching staff will watch him every day in training and they don’t trust him to start games even against the St Mirrens of this world. From what we’ve seen he is a long way off the pace. I think his Celtic race is run and we need two strikers in this window.
Overall Leigh has been a great signing, a few years back he virtually carried the team for a couple of years and we owe him thanks for that. His last two years will be expensive but we shouldn’t grudge him a penny, he played his part in the Celtic story.
It seems inevitable that he will end up at Hibs at loan, probably sooner rather than later.
Nicky Hammond was at Firhill this afternoon. Not sure his role with us would encompass scouting Partick for next week so possible he was watching someone in particular. Shankland would have caught his eye for sure.
DAVID17 @ 21:48
Got to agree with most of what you write.
LG wages plus Scott Sinclair’s could get us two top forwards. However unless he keeps his overall wage in tact with a loan move, I can see Griffiths sitting out the remaining two years. Other clubs will be/ have been, put off by his lifestyle and its problems.
McNut 10.06pm
“Other clubs will be/have been, put off by his lifestyle and it’s problems”
Hopefully this is just your uninformed opinion
Here is what Leigh said on signing his most recent contract … I take it Brendan approved it and Peter Lawell signed it off and his current manager put him on in our last domestic game, so maybe Brendan, Peter & Neil know more than any of us
“I’m over the moon,” he told Celtic TV. “It’s been a long time coming, talks have been ongoing for a while and I’m glad to get it over the line.
“The main aim is to be here for as long as I can, and for Celtic to have shown that faith in me to sign me for another four years makes me ecstatic.
“From the moment I walked in the door here, this is where I wanted to be for the rest of my life. I’ve been here for three-and-a-half years already and to sign another four-year deal is great. I can’t wait for the future.
“Celtic is a great club and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I had the opportunity to move but I wanted to stay and fight for my place. I’ve been rewarded with another deal and knowing that I’m going to be here for another four years is great.”
The 28-year-old has now set his sights on further cementing his place in Celtic folklore by helping the team to win ten successive league titles.
He said: “I’m here for the 10-in-a-row bid, but my main focus now is trying to get in the team and stay as fit as possible. I’ve hit the 100 now and I want to try and continue that and aim for greater heights.
“There’s been a lot of high and some lows, but more highs than lows. Hopefully there’s more highs to come.
“The Invincible season and the Double Treble season were some very good highlights and hopefully in the coming years there’s more to come”
GFTB
So , if Griff’s fitness is right and his attitude is right , why won’t Neil Lennon play him?
Glendaly 11.57pm
If Leigh’s fitness isn’t right why is Neil putting him on ?
Am not suggesting I know the ins & outs of things … personally I would have preferred Neil to use Leigh far more recently and certainly in the cup final before Lewis Morgan … am just saying if Leigh was that far off the pace as others suggest he would not be coming off the bench in our last fixture, as for your question about him not playing if Edouard is fit Edouard starts … again something that Neil will stand or fall by … again I would get as many goal scorers on the park as I could … surely Edouard & Leigh could play together domestically .. there is no need for 4 at the back considering not one team in the league play two up against us … but again we don’t know much just guessing :-)
GLENDALYSTONSILS, good point my Opinion, the guys finished! But time will you tell !
Fellow Celts
Good night n god bless
😂😂
7 MORE SLEEPS
Big Jimmy
May I add my best wishes for your procedure on Wednesday,and I will add you to my prayers.
I’m a bit like you at the moment not in the best of health ( also 64) . I haven’t missed a home game this season though. Anyway I came across on you tube a comedy about a pair of brothers who run a turf fired crematorium in rural Donegal. It is in Irish with subtitles but it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time, it’s called CU Burn type into you tube it’s got 15 1/2 hour episodes, my pal watched them all in one day he thought it so funny so hopefully it will pass a bit of time for you. Look forward to see you back posting after Thursday as you have cheered me up on a good few occasions on here with your humorous stories, God bless big man. HH
McNut. Did I see you saying that saving on SS wages and LG wages we could bring in two strikers
Omg. Do you know we have about 50m in bank
We could play two players 100k per year and it would not make much of a dent into our bank balance
You are basically saying sell before we can buy. Omg what a spin from peter Did he pay you to say that lol
Big Jimmy
For what it’s worth
I had a stent put into my heart about 10 years ago
Procedure took about 20 mins all told
Through my wrist and right in
Watched it happen on a tv monitor above my head
Was at work the following day
Still here fitter than ever
Hoorah