Celtic centre-back Shane Duffy has reacted to Gary Breen’s much-maligned comments on the Hoops and Scottish football.
Breen caused a stir as he stated that Duffy going up to Scotland from the Premier League could see him pick up “bad habits”. The former Ireland defender was speaking to Off The Ball.
The comments were made after Duffy had bagged his first Celtic goal on his debut at Ross County on Saturday. He went on to nab his second last night at St Mirren too as he continues to be a handful for Premiership defences.
However, despite the fact he’s making things look easy in Scotland so far, Duffy believes this is 100% the right move for him at this stage in his career.
In a diplomatic response as quoted by Four Four Two, Duffy said: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, that’s his and you have to respect him as well. But I don’t believe what he says is right. It is a huge club up here and it is a massive honour to be at this club so I just let my football do the talking.
“Gary has always been very complimentary about me and he does say good things as well so, as I say, it was his opinion of my move and he is entitled to it.
“For me, I am delighted and I think it is the right move. It is only going to make me better playing for a club like this with the pressure around it of winning every single game and performing well.”
Duffy says what the rest of us have been thinking
Duffy handled the question well. Like he says, Breen is often extremely complimentary towards the Brighton-owned centre-back, so it wouldn’t have been right to come out and vilify him.
However, he’s also managed to defend the club and Scottish football at the same time. He’s making it known that Celtic is a club where players from England’s top league can go to and improve. Just the fact he’s getting regular game-time is a boost to Ireland for example.
What was baffling about Breen’s negativity is exactly that – the negativity. Why was there an eagerness on his part to highlight the negatives in Duffy moving to Celtic? If there are any concerns, the positives surely outweight them?
You would’ve thought as a former Ireland international that Breen would’ve been delighted to see his country’s captain heading to a club with a winning mentality and getting regular minutes.
Nah, why do that when you can just stick the boot into Scottish football, eh? It’s the cool thing to do after all.
At least we know where Duffy stands on the comments. He’s managed to avoid fuelling the fire, but he’s made his point perfectly clear here.
In other news, a Championship boss has provided an update on a Celtic-linked centre-back.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
