Don’t read alone- ten striking flops before Dembele broke the mould

The arrival of Moussa Dembele has broken a terrifying run of striking disasters at Celtic. In the summer of 2010 Neil Lennon brought in Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes and suddenly it all seemed too easy to find strikers. As he tried to find other striking options Lennon looked far and wide but was unable to come up with any real alternatives to his favoured partnership. Across Europe was scoured with the priority being to come up with an emerging talent who could adapt to the Scottish game and bring in a steady 20 goals a season. The problem continued under Ronny Deila who had the good fortune to inherit Leigh Griffiths even if the former Hibs striker started out as Deila's fourth choice striker. Amido Balde and Mo Bangura were the biggest flops in terms of playing contribution and transfer losses but unfortunately there has been plenty of other contenders in the Hall of Shame. With Dembele proving to be a very welcome distraction Video Celts has ventured into the recent dark past to uncover 10 of the worst striking flops- from the last six years. CLICK HERE for the 10 recent striking flops. AMIDO BALDE There really was a lot of hype and excitement as Celtic secured the signing of the 22-year-old from Vitoria Guimares. Neil Lennon wanted to add a physical element to his striking options, he certainly got a new option in Amido. Three league goals were scored with Balde largely used as an 'impact sub'. After one unfortunate season he was sent out on loan to Belgium and Israel before quietly having his contract settled up. Now on the books of Maritimo back in Portugal he has one substitute appearance to his name this season. TEEMU PUKKI The big deal with reports of a fee ranging between £2-3.5m paid to Schalke 04 for the Finnish internationalist. Scoring on his debut as a substitute against Hearts at Tynecastle was as good as it got as Pukki joined a notorious band of 2013 signing flops. Neil Lennon admitted that Pukki was perhaps too quiet a character for Celtic. Ronny Deila gave him a brief run in the side before a loan spell Brondby was made permanent with the pace of the Danish game more suited to his style of play HOLMBERT FRIDJONNSON Was signed for the Development Team in January 2014 from Fram Reykjavic with a view to getting a first team run but it just never really kicked off for the Icelandic u-21 internationalist. He failed to impress Ronny Deila or Neil Lennon before joining Teemu Pukki on loan at Brondby who decided against making the deal permanent. After being released by Celtic he completed the Scandinavian loop by joining KR Reykjavic. MO BANGURA He arrived with the backing of Henrik Larsson but like Amido Balde immediately looked well short of what is required. Bangura was expected to put pressure on Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper but was shipped out on loan to AIK Solna a year after joining Celtic. A further loan spell at Elfsborg ended in controversy as he played against Celtic in a Champions League qualifier. After a stint in Turkey he moved to China and remains as much a goalscoring mystery as ever. STEFAN SCEPOVIC The only player on the list that some supporters would feel deserved more of a chance at Celtic. A last minute signing during the summer 2014 window his decision to reject a move to Celtic earlier in the window made his transition more difficult. With Ronny Deila insisting on a 4-2-3-1 formation Scep looked like a fish out of water. A registration mix up with John Guidetti gave Scepovic a chance in the Europa League where he scored against Astra and Dinamo Zagreb. It was no surprise that he went on loan to Getafe a year after joining Celtic, and less of a surprise when the loan was made permanent by Brendan Rodgers. CARLTON COLE One of the strangest of signings made by Ronny Deila his main attribute seemed to be being available outside of the transfer window. After a two week trial at Lennoxtown an 18 month contract was agreed but Cole never looked capable of putting pressure on or standing in for Leigh Griffiths. Brendan Rodgers quickly made his feelings known with Cole signing up for a lower division American side after a bizarre Celtic career highlighted by a Scottish Cup goal at Stranraer. COLIN KAZIM RICHARDS Like the signing of Cole this deal seemed to contradict the signing blueprint of Deila- or maybe he just took a liking to experience. There were no tears shed at Feyenoord when the Turkish internationalist moved on, and no reaction from Celtic fans when Richards left for Brazil at the end of the season. Two goals were contributed, against East Kilbride in the Scottish Cup and away to Hearts at Tynecastle. MIKU Started in the 2-1 win over Barcelona but never looked at home in a Celtic shirt despite brief flashes of form. Fortunately it was just a loan deal that was signed with his subsequent career taking him off to Qatar before returning to Spain where he's currently in the Second Division with Rayo Vallecano LASSAD NOUIOUI Arrived on a free, left on a free and never made much of an impact during his season in Glasgow. The Georgios Samaras lookalike scored important goals at Tynecastle and Pittodrie but never really posed any threat to established strikers Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper. Another mysterious transfer punt, at least no fee was involved in this experiment. PAWEL BROZEK Arrived on loan from Trabzonspor in January 2012 but failed spectacularly to make any impact on the Celtic side. With the title won he was given a start at Motherwell- with five minutes of being replaced by Tony Watt the young sub had scored twice. Slipped away quietly joining Recreativo de Huelva of Spain in the summer of 2012.

Related Stories

A Significant Injury- McInnes fears the worst for Shankland

Paranoid Michael Stewart still can’t cope with Celtic winning the SPFL title

Stranraer 3-4 Celtic B Watch extended highlights

Report claims details of five Oasis gigs at Celtic Park

Cheerleader Gordon Strachan jumps to the defence of Nicholson & Co

Martin O’Neill quickly backtracks over UEFA priority

LASSAD NOUIOUI

What do you feel about this?

Related Stories

Trending Now