Benjamin Nygren is a man in form.
In scoring the winner in Celtic’s 1-0 win over Falkirk, the Swede made it five goals in six, consolidating his position as the club’s top-scorer.
It’s fair to say that he hasn’t always been getting rave reviews this season, but in all honesty, this has been the case for every Celtic player.
At least Nygren’s next goal is never too far away – he has contributed under Brendan Rodgers, Wilfried Nancy and Martin O’Neill (in both of the latter’s spells).
But speaking to the media after the Falkirk win, he made it clear that his feet were firmly on the ground.
Thoughts after six months of Benjamin Nygren?
Benjamin Nygren on Celtic
For all of the flaws in Celtic’s summer transfer window, Nygren can go down as a solid signing at £1.5 million.
He made the move to Glasgow off the back of scoring 16 goals for Nordsjaelland last season.
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Speaking to the media after the game, he was asked about Celtic’s January transfer window, of which we are already beyond the halfway point.
Nygren simply said: “I think Celtic is a massive club and, for sure, we need that.”
The midfielder went on: “No matter what team you play, you always need to be professional. Myself and all of the players, for sure the older ones, have played many of these games [like Auchinleck].
“You know it’s their biggest game of the year and they will give more than everything. Even though it’s a semi-professional team, we still have to do a good performance and show how much better we are.
“I always want to do good individually, but it’s a team sport. The most important thing is for us to win the league and be first in the league. We’re not at the moment, but you need to score goals to win games.
“I’ve always been a player that, from a deeper position, creates chances, scores goals, and makes assists in the last third, so I want to continue like that.”
“We didn’t play our best game, but we got the three points, and that’s the most important thing.
“For sure. I can give Falkirk some credit. They played a good game, but I still think we should have done a better performance. But we didn’t. We still ran a lot of metres and did pretty good defensively.”
Would Celtic have won that game under Wilfried Nancy?
Celtic’s other signings in the summer transfer window
Nygren was Celtic’s first senior signing of the window, and was followed by Japanese duo Hayato Inamura and Shin Yamada.
Inamura has already left Celtic, joining FC Tokyo on loan with an option to buy. Yamada is still on the club’s books but wasn’t even in the squad against Falkirk.
Like Inamura, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey has already left after a lack of game time. He’s now at FC Koln.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha’s future is also in doubt, amid an unexpected lack of game time. The jury is still out for Sebastian Tounekti, who has shown glimpses of promise.
Marcelo Saracchi and Kelechi Iheanacho’s positive contributions have been limited by injury.
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