Andy Halliday shares what it’s like facing ‘clever’ Celtic star Luke McCowan

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Luke McCowan is loving life at Celtic.

There was a sense of excitement and feel-good factor when Celtic brought in McCowan from Dundee this summer and he isn’t disapointing.

Celtic beat Motherwell 3-0 at the weekend, with captain Callum McGregor absent and it opened the door for the new kid on the block to start.

Just like his previous showings, he didn’t disappoint and even opened the scoring for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

The fact that Celtic put on such a performance, without their skipper and with the new players shining, it would have been music to the ears for the manager.

One man who faced McCowan at the weekend was Motherwell midfielder Andy Halliday and he shared an insight into the player.

Andy Halliday hails ‘clever’ Luke McCowan

It just felt right when Celtic signed McCowan and it feels even more right now that he is donning the colours of his boyhood club.

At the age of 26, he has moved to Parkhead at the right time and it won’t be too long before he is side by side with the likes of John McGinn for Scotland.

Halliday shared on Open Goal how McCowan would get into ‘clever’ pockets, as he demonstrated with his goal and he thought he played ‘really well’.

But it doesn’t come as a surprise to Halliday because he felt that McCowan was deserving of such a move because of his performances for Dundee.

“Luke McCowan has been champing on the door for a start for a couple of weeks now,” said Halliday. “He’s come on for a couple of games, Ross County is the first one that springs to mind, where I thought he made a real difference in the game, in terms of his enthusiasm and energy.

“But, ultimately, he has got the quality as well. I thought he played really well. He took up some really clever pockets of space. For his goal, it’s a perfect example of that.

“I said it at the time, I think Luke McCowan for Rangers or Celtic. Celtic have ultimately took the plunge on it and I think he is rewarding them already.”

McCowan’s stats for Celtic

The best is still yet to come from McCowan, but so far, so good from the midfielder.

You sense that McGregor missing from the weekend was a blessing in disguise becaue it allowed McCowan to start and showcase his worth.

Now, Celtic’s bench strength has just become stronger and anyone knows that players such as McCowan can be called up at any time.

He has been rated just under seven by WhoScored for the Premiership campaign so far, including being rated just over eight for the win over Motherwell.