Greenock Morton’s Norwegian centre-back Markus Fjortoft has stated that Celtic’s following in his homeland is growing thanks to the importance of Mohamed Elyounoussi to the nation.
Celtic initially signed Elyounoussi on loan from Southampton in the summer of 2019. However, injury setbacks meant that his season-long stint in Glasgow was broken up as he failed to secure a run of games after November.
But this season it couldn’t be any different after he returned for another year-long loan. After a slowish start to the campaign, Moi is on fire after scoring six goals in his last six games. Incredibly, he now has 14 direct goal contributions in 18 appearances (Transfermarkt).
Yet regardless of whether his form has been good or bad, Moi has been consistently called up for the Norwegian international team. And as he prepares to jet away with them once again this month, his countryman Fjortoft has been explaining why he’s so important to the country.
As quoted by the Daily Record, the Morton defender said: “For Norwegian people, he’s one of several players who have helped put our game on the map and that’s why there are so many people back home now following Celtic and seeing what Mo’s achieving.
“If you speak to any Norwegian then they know Mo better than the rest of the Celtic players. He has that X factor which a lot of players envy.
“I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon with Mohamed just because he’s a fellow Norwegian but it’s great to see him representing my nation so well with Celtic. He made his debut against Hamilton when I was there.”
Elyounoussi can’t do anything wrong
It feels as though the on-loan Southampton star can’t do anything wrong at the moment after he bagged a fine hat-trick against Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday. That came after a superb brace vs Lille in the Europa League too.
Moi is showing what he’s all about when Celtic need him most. With so much pressure and spotlight being placed on the club, it was imperative that we had characters who stood out from the pack and helped drag us through this period. Elyounoussi is doing that.
Of course, it wasn’t always like this. One of Norway’s golden boys, Moi had been struggling to get going in the first couple of months of the season. Some dreadful displays in the early games against the likes of Ferencvaros and Rangers didn’t help him either.
But he’s now finally repaying the trust that both Neil Lennon and many of the Celtic supporters have placed in him since he returned for a second loan spell in the summer. This is the player we initially thought we had signed last year.
Yet the work can’t stop here either. Elyounoussi is going to be a key man once again when Celtic pitch up at Easter Road in two weeks. Another match-winning performance there and the dark clouds really will start to drift away from Parkhead. Negotiating tricky away fixtures in the league will do that.
Hopefully, this isn’t just a good bit of form. We need this Elyounoussi to stay if we’re to secure 10-in-a-row.
In other news, we discuss why this week could be an absolutely massive one for a Celtic bench-warmer.
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