Boli Bolingoli’s dream at Celtic is to emulate the work of Kieran Tierney before him.
Tierney was sold in a £25million deadline-day move to Arsenal this summer (BBC). It was a huge blow for the club at the time, with KT being a huge part of our treble-treble run. He left the club as an iconic figure, and it wasn’t just because of his trophy wins either.
Tierney was a hero due to his aggression, determination, and heart-on-the-sleeve nature. Growing up a Celtic fan, he had an instant connection to the fans. And the better he got at Celtic Park, the more loved and heralded he was by the support.
Boli may not have come through the youth system, but he’s aware of Tierney’s cult-hero status. And in comments published by the Daily Record today, Boli stated that he wants to emulate what the new Arsenal man did in Glasgow.
“Every player is different. I know Kieran Tierney was a big player at Celtic and to replace him is a real honour. I want to emulate Kieran and the things he did for the club.
“That’s why I have been working on the defensive side of my game. Even when I was at Rapid Vienna I was still working on that side of the game.
“I know my qualities and I want to show them to the manager and the rest of the team as well as the Celtic supporters.”
Fending off competition should be Boli’s first goal
One thing that Tierney did immensely well during his time here was fending off the competition, and doing so with ease.
The left-back never gave Emilio Izaguirre a sniff when he was fit, and there was never any debate as to who should be our first-choice in the position. However, for Boli, he has the real threat of Greg Taylor now at the club.
Taylor has still to make his debut for the club too. Considering how well-known and highly-rated he is in Scotland, Boli has work to do to keep him on the bench.
Boli is quite right to have dreams of iconic status at Celtic. After all, why shouldn’t any player have that goal? But there also has to be an acknowledgment that he has a long way to go before he reaches Tierney’s level.
So far, Boli has shown he can cut it here whilst also at times looking incredibly nervous too. He failed to really impress in the early stages of his Celtic career, but positive outings against AIK, Rangers, and Rennes seemed to put him on the right track.
But the Belgian was back to struggling at Easter Road on Saturday. He didn’t seem to want to take on too much responsibility, and had a horror moment where he simply ran the ball out of play under no pressure.
These errors must be cut out before he can even think of emulating Tierney. But the signs remain positive, and having such a lofty goal is most certainly worth having.
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