Not since the arrival of Gary Hooper has a striker made the impact of John Guidetti.
There is a long trail of ‘hit-men’ who have joined the club only to be eased aside under the euphemism of ‘adjusting to the pace of Scottish football’.
The omens were hardly promising for the young Swede, burdened with responsibility after lengthy injury absences and arriving at the same time as £2m Stefan Scepovic. To make life even tougher the SFA and SPFL managed to mess up his registration meaning that he has been unable to play in the Europa League.
Despite those obstacles Guidetti has made an instant impact scoring the goals to win matches, excite the fans and show the confidence and personality that all quality strikers require.
His heading ability is hard to judge but on the deck it’s impossible to categorise Guidetti, he can score the poachers goals as he showed at Ross County, tuck away one-on-one’s as he did at St Mirren and also strikes a mean free kick as Partick Thistle discovered.
It didn’t take long for speculation to kick-off about his future but with his Manchester City contract finishing at the end of the season he’ll be available for free to any club outside of England.
A scoring run at Celtic is bound to attract some lucrative offers but with last season’s loan spell at Stoke City in mind it’s likely to be footballing rather than financial matters that drive his decision.
Two more seasons at Celtic, scoring goals regularly with the adulation of the fans and the prospect of Champions League football must carry some level of appeal ahead of a bulging bank balance.
In 2005 Celtic took Artur Boruc on loan from Legia Warsaw before quickly making the deal permanent- a similar arrangement with Guidetti would be the perfect boost for the entire club.
