Johan Mjallby believes that it’s wrong to compare James Forrest with Aiden McGeady.
The Spartak Moscow midfielder was at Celtic Park on Wednesday night as Forrest ran Rangers ragged with his ability to run at defenders on a difficult night.
McGeady was in the Celtic side that saw Forrest score on his debut against Motherwell 20 months ago with Mjallby quick to highlight the differences in style between the two Academy graduates
“James probably doesn’t have the same amount of tricks as Aiden but is more direct,” the Celtic No. 2 explained. “Aiden was maybe more about trying to beat his man but James can take the defender on or cut inside and pass.
“He is the type of player you seldom see, he is like an old-fashioned winger who can play on either flank and is so quick over the first few yards.
“Arguably James has been our best player this season and has taken his game to another level. We are so pleased with him and he is a great guy to have. He will be important in the second half of the season.
“James was important against Rangers. We wanted to get him on the ball as often as possible and we didn’t do that quickly enough in the first half.
“He is explosive and we have to be careful with him. We don’t want him getting any injuries so we will protect him.
“Clubs are being linked with James but we want to keep him. To win trophies you need to keep your best players.”
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Give this bhoy what he wants to get him tied down on a ten year contract,he,s only going to get better and better.,HAIL HAIL
I prefer Forrest, he uses speed and vision to eat up the field, Aiden was all about the one on one, Forrest sees the bigger picture and creates havoc on the pitch.
He can’t be contained where as Aiden sometimes could, hence why he was seldom seen in the big games- which would be to the benefit of talented teammates as it allowed them more space.
I’m not claiming to know James Forrest in the slightest, but , he strikes me as the kind of guy who is delighted to be playing for Celtic!
I hope he’s about for a long time to come, he’s got the potential to become a very important player for us!
Agree with the first comment, not sure how long his contract is but he probably isn’t near the top earners in the squad & he deserves to be. The reality of our club is we can’t afford to buy the top quality players we need. When it comes to Izzy, Kayal, Ki & Wanyama i doubt any of them will be with us in 5 years. It’s fair enough it’s better to have players who want to play at the highest level & when we make a huge profit & hopefully we can keep bringing through players like McGeady & Forrest.
Never thought there could be a better winger but yeah, I prefer James as well. If and when he does eventually leave, we’ll be lookin at something in the region of double what we got for Aiden and that would be a bargain for the buyer considering if he was English or Spanish he’d be priceless no doubt. The future’s seriously bright buy lets just do the biz this year. HH 1NL 😀
The good thing for James and us he’s not near his full potential yet.
So a new deal for young James ASAP.
we still have a long way to go in the league and cups lets keep focussing on one game at a time this has to be our mantra in the future its the only way we’ll win trophies and leagues and be successful
Another thing is we have to stop being a feeder club for all the bigger leagues i.e EPL the Bundesliga and the Primera Liga we have to tie all our good young players on secure lucrative long term contracts not only will this encourage our players to stay but also encourage good players to come here
keep believing keep rebuilding keep investing and always believe the thunder will come back again and this club will be great again
James Forrest is a precocious talent. Even at his present young age he is twice the player that Aiden McGeady ever was at Celtic, and McGeady’s near anonymity since moving to Russia suggests that he hasn’t improved following his departure from Celtic Park.
If Forrest eventually moves on, probably to England, I am sure he will turn out to be one of the star players at whichever club he goes to, and IMHO he will score and create many goals, even in the EPL.
We have to think BIG to be BIG…not just look at our rivals in Scotland. We should be asking why small clubs like Braga – Utrecht & Sion put us out of Europe with such ease. On & OFF the park we have to step up our game. I read about how a young Stan Petrov was virtually left abandoned in a hotel by the club (What a disaster that could have been turned out) Now recently I hear we have done the exact same with another youngster, who we mistakenly thought would sign for the “Jersey” but instead went down the road. Simply not good enough, these talented kids should ALL be pursued and looked after properly when we are able to show what this club can offer. Pull out all the stops, we risked losing Petrov but clearly haven’t learned.
We will be a feeder club for many years to the major clubs of Europe, but shrewd work behind the scenes should enable us to move up a level or two. The McGeady money has gone, now we must move onwards & upwards. A lot of great young talent in the pipeline but still plenty of work to be done.
Our young guns also need to know they CAN & WILL be given the chance to progress, not be blocked by deadwood or merely given cameo appearances. Very few of our promising kids have ever let the club down when called upon, so show some faith in them, we don’t need to 3-4 goals up before unleashing a young talent.
well said Willie unless we hold onto our stars we’ll never develop and become this goes to the Board especially
Pretty sure Forrest signed a five year deal not that long ago!
They are two totally different players. Its like trying to compare apples and pears. McGeady is a brilliant player and just because he has gone, we shouldn’t be like the so called fans from accross the city and backball a player just because he left. McGeady was brilliant for us and continues to be brilliant.
Forrest is still early days. He shows great potential and if we are being honest, contract or not, he will be sold within the next four seasons. We have some great talent on the way up too though. Given the ill-divided cash distribution, if we can make big money from guys like Aiden and James, it helps keep us in front of the orcs who are trying hard to sell players noone really wants.
Happy New Year, Joe.
Hope its a good one for you and yours.
Damo your full of shit, McGeady has been doing well if he wasn’t why was zenit try to buy him for 24 mil lol. Don’t make comments about things if your just going to talk rubbish.