Andy Halliday stunned by what Celtic’s Michel-Ange Balikwisha kept doing against Rangers

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Celtic spent very little in the summer transfer window compared to previous years.

The Hoops splurged £14m on players, with the highest outlay on winger Sebastian Tounekti from Hammarby for a fee of £5.2m.

Second on the list is Michel-Ange Balikwisha, who joined for £5m from Royal Antwerp before Sunday’s Glasgow derby draw with Rangers.

Balikwisha was handed a baptism of fire by Brendan Rodgers as he started the game on the wing, but it was a ponderous start for the Belgian.

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Halliday surprised by Balikwisha’s hesitancy vs Rangers

Andy Halliday took in the game, of course, and noticed on numerous occasions that Balikwisha received the ball with a chance to test James Tavernier’s defensive ability.

However, Balikwisha on every occasion opted to turn and pass the ball back, which stunned Open Goal pundit and Motherwell midfielder Halliday.

He said: “Now you obviously can’t go too hard on him, it’s his first game, he’s just in the door. But the biggest frustration has to be the boy Balikwisha.

“Celtic’s three best passages of play, they get him in a one v one situation with Tavernier, which is everything Celtic want in these games. They’ve done it with Maeda against Tavernier time and time again.

“He just turns back and just recycles the ball. There was no actual willingness to go one v one. It was just: ‘As soon as I get the ball, my decision is I’m going back.’

Balikwisha needs time at Celtic

Celtic fans, too, may be frustrated by Balikwisha’s full debut against Rangers on Sunday, but he cannot be singled out because every single player on the park was poor.

The winger signed on Thursday night and only trained with his new Celtic teammates the following day for a massive game.

Anyone who debuts in the Glasgow derby is going to be nervous, and that was probably the case for Balikwisha.

With continued minutes under his belt, we should hopefully see Balikwisha grow in confidence and become a real asset for the Bhoys this season.