Ramon Vega hails Albian Ajeti after confident start to Celtic pre-season

By David Walton

July 7, 2021

Former Celtic man and Swiss pundit Ramon Vega has hailed Albian Ajeti after his countryman kicked off his pre-season campaign with a goal.

Ajeti was given the captain’s armband for our first warm-up match against Sheffield Wednesday. And he proved to be deserving of the honour after a fine all-round performance and goal.

The Swiss striker had a woeful campaign last season. After signing for £5million from West Ham United [Sky Sports], Albian would only go on to score six goals for the club.

However, he started his pre-season prep well this afternoon with 60 minutes under his belt and a fine equalising strike. Ajeti would come off for the final 30 minutes as Ange Postecoglou changed his team up, and Vega has highlighted the striker for picking himself up after last season and getting on the scoresheet:

Ramon Vega believes Albian Ajeti is “waking up”; time to see if he’s right

It’s important not to get carried away. Ajeti knew it wasn’t a massive moment considering his celebrations were more or less muted after the goal.

Talk of him finally “waking up” is dangerously premature. We are talking about, after all, a player who was given several chances and failed to run with them last term.

But what Ajeti has managed to do today is give himself a platform. His goal today will already have fans talking about how he needs more minutes. There will be more calls for him to be given an extended run this season.

In that sense, his performance and goal today was important. The bigger a profile he builds up for himself, the likelier he is to get a chance under the new manager.

At the very least, he’s earned himself the right to another opportunity either on Saturday against Charlton in our second warm-up game. A run of games and a run of goals is exactly what he needs from this point onward.

Whether Ajeti wakes up or not remains to be seen. If he does, it would certainly be welcome.

In other news, a new talent caught the eye of the Celtic supporters today.