Billy McNeill believes that Kelvin Wilson has turned around his Celtic career.
The defender failed to make much of an impression last season and was the subject of interest from Leicester City during the summer.
Neil Lennon never lost faith in his former Nottingham Forest team-mate with McNeill expecting big things from the defender following the clean sheet against Benfica.
“Kelvin Wilson has had a tough first year settling in at Celtic,” Caesar told The Sun. “But I hope his impressive performance against Benfica will finally see him turn a corner.
“In fairness, Wilson also played his part in the Champions League qualifiers with Helsingborgs and has had a few decent games domestically.
“Wednesday was his best display so far in a Celtic jersey and I was delighted for him.
“He really looked the part against a talented Benfica attack. Nice and solid, straight-forward defending with a few classy touches for good measure.
“He rarely looked troubled in a Celtic defence which produced precisely what was required.”
McNeill added: “When you play for a club like Celtic it can be such an unforgiving environment. Judgements can be brutal. Hurtful.
“Wilson’s had to endure a fair bit of criticism since he joined from Nottingham Forest, but I know it can often take time for a new signing to settle in at Celtic Park.
“There is massive pressure and huge expectancy to deliver a high standard. If you don’t the fans will soon tell you!
“I’ve had sympathy for Wilson. Centre-half is an important position and there’s less room for error than in other positions.
“He has also had injury problems, but now he’s beginning to show why Neil Lennon was anxious to bring him to Celtic.
“The clean sheet against Benfica will do him the world of good and it would be great to see him build on it. I just hope he gets the run of games and good form he deserves.”
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He has what most of our central defenders seem to lack – PACE but the true test of his ability will be seen in the return legs. We will be under much more pressure will need cool heads and be able to retain possession as much as possible.
While we had 2 guys in front of him breaking up possible attacks, surely we won’t need this in the SPL where we will have the bulk of possession.
Showing some promise at last, hopefully we can find a settled central defence.
First of all,it’s Cesar not Caeser as in Cesar Romero.
I’m my opinion Kelvin Wilson has loads of ability. However he always wants to play the ball and sometimes gets caught in possession. In the SPL he’s also struggled against physical strikers and sometimes his concentration level drops. Might be that he’s better suited for European football until he improves overall.