Ronny Deila wants to bring Carlton Cole’s leadership qualities to his help his youthful squad.
On the day that Nadir Ciftci opened his Celtic account the 31-year-old former West Ham striker watched the 6-0 rout of Dundee from the stand.
Cole scored three times in 26 appearances for West Ham last season but hasn’t played a competitive match since May 24 when the Hammers lost 2-0 at Newcastle with Sam Allerdyce’s departure announced within 30 minutes of the final whistle.
“He was here to look at the game, to get to know us and see the city and club,” Deila explained.
“We will have talks with him and see him in training as well, this week I think, and we will see if it is something that will happen or not.
“It is not (a trial), he has been in London his whole life, so he has to see what he is coming to and then we will see if it is something that he likes and we like as well.
“I think he is very good football player and he shown in the Premier League and also the Championship that he can score goals and he is different to what we have.
“He is a target man, very good in the air and strong and that is something that, if everything fits, could be good for us.”
Leigh Griffiths, Tom Rogic, Scott Brown plus a double from Emilio Izaguirre gave Celtic a comfortable win before Ciftci completed the scoring.
Looking at his side’s performance Deila added: “I was very happy about the performance. The whole day was very good with a lot of people in the stadium, it was a good atmosphere and the team played well for 90 minutes. We could have scored even more goals, and that’s a good thing when you win 6-0.
“There were so many good performances throughout the team. The players are getting better and so is the team, and today everyone showed real commitment for the whole 90 minutes and that’s good.
“We have worked a lot to find reasons (for last weekend’s defeat) and to get over it and move on and get back to the level we were at, and even get better, and I think the last two performances have been good and there’s a lot to build on.”
Kris Commons is the reason. Simply has to be in the team!
commons makes the difference, stand out class
It’s not his age that bothers me ,three goals in twenty six games is not exactly prolific ! Just another someone on the cheap methinks !
Not exactly over excited about Carlton Cole but we do need somebody in to help the strikers.
If he comes in and get’s the goals then good enough for me.
Great result today, what Celtic need to more of, smashing teams domestically.
I want to play Aberdeen asap! HH!
Before anyone says anything negative about carlton remember L U B O
Carlton Cole is only 31, 2 years younger than Lubo when he signed.
Stop moaning , start supporting the players , the club
Fraz,
There’s a difference between moaning and raising relevant, concerning issues about the team and club.
Puting 6 past Dundee is all fine and we’ll but getting knocked out the Champions league at the qualifying stage, regularly, isn’t good enough.
There are reasons we aren’t giving ourselves a chance, one of those reasons is the boardroom.
Europe and success in Europe is where I and many Celtic supporters judge where are our club and team are……not puting 6 past Dundee. HH!
Is Samaras not still available as free agent. A player we know and knows us and who has played on the big European nights at Celtic park. Much less of a risky option if we could get Sammy back in.
Commons has been superb the last 2 games. Johansson has not kicked a ball for weeks his resting as they put it has been long overdue, Rogic if given game time will prove to be a great asset to midfield. Scrap the 2 holding m/fielders, and play 2 upfront we dont need this for SPFL games change tactics for away Euro games if needed. If Ronny needs any more advice give me a call, just on the other end of the phone. HH.
we tried to sign him before and he did not want to come.so why now.
If Carlton Cole signs I hope he is given a chance and hopefully he comes in and does a job for us but the fact we are scurrying about looking at strikers without a club at the end of September is a damning indictment of Peter Lawell and the board’s signing policy.
Is this part of the famous and lauded ‘strategy’ they hold so dear to or is it desperation because they shackled themselves to a rigid inflexible policy that unnecessarily hinders the club in the transfer market.
Can’t win ..if we sign Cole – some people will moan why didn’t we sign him before Malmo games !
On his day can prove a real handful, hope he enjoys some good times if all works out, although others from down south have found the going a lot harder than they imagined.
Could provide both cover and another option for us going forward this season. Expect us to be involved at the later stages of both domestic cups, with the league & Europe giving us a big fixture list to complete.
Carlton Cole or Adebayor or Leon Best ?
All 3 are without clubs … So which would be the best for us ?
None! One lazy, one trouble and one who cant get a game with Brighton