Celtic fans are understandably delighted with the signing of Shane Duffy, on a season-long loan from Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Republic of Ireland defender has all the hallmarks to be a big success at Parkhead.
He’s the right age at 28, he’s got experience of big games in a big league, and he knows the club well.
That we do know. But what about the stuff we don’t?
I caught up with Scott from We Are Brighton for a chat about all things Duffy.
The entirety of our chat will be on the 67 Hail Hail YouTube channel on Saturday. But here is a sample of what we got talking about.
Scott rates Duffy highly
SCOTT (WE ARE BRIGHTON): Graham Potter came in and he’s basically changed the entire way the team plays. Before it was ‘keep a clean sheet, knick a 1-0’, now it’s ‘play out from the back, possession football’.
That’s not really Duffy’s style. Shane Duffy is still good enough to play for any side in the bottom half of the Premier League.
The problem he’s got is that he’s probably at one of the few teams who value trying to play triangles at the edge of the box more than sticking a head or a boot in.
Ultimately, that’s why he’s gone. Because he’s 28 and if the Republic of Ireland qualify for EURO 2020 he needs to be playing first-team football, and he won’t get that with us.
HAMISH: The issue we’ve had is that we’ve not had a nasty centre-back for a while. The feeling here is that Duffy could be the guy to come in and be that physical presence. Is that the case given what you’ve seen?
SCOTT: Yeah, very much so. He’s very much your no-nonsense defender. Kick people, ask questions later.
In terms of players like that, he was one of the best players in the Premier League. West Ham were sniffing around, West Brom were interested. So I think it’s a real coup.
Obviously it helps that he’s a boyhood Celtic fan and Brighton have done a lot to facilitate the deal because, in reality, it works out well for us too.
The full video of Hamish’s chat with Scott from We Are Brighton will be on the 67 Hail Hail YouTube channel from 1pm on Saturday.
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