The Celtic supporters’ affection for new signing Shane Duffy certainly wasn’t harmed yesterday after an impressive performance in his press conference and in-house interview.
Duffy was officially presented as a Celtic player on Tuesday afternoon after sealing the deal on a year-long loan spell from Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Irishman has just arrived after spending a disappointing week with the Republic of Ireland, but he showed no signs of that frustration lingering over to the start of his Celtic career.
Duffy was buzzing as he took to the press and spoke about growing up a Celtic supporter as well as how proud his dad would be of him. He also provided the current centre-back pairing a vote of confidence, whilst bigging up what this means to him personally (Celtic TV).
Supporters were left impressed by what Duffy had to say, as you can see from the reaction below:
https://twitter.com/clarkiediver/status/1303391614652624901
A good talker and a solid player
It was certainly a revealing media day from the big Irishman yesterday. He spoke a lot about his Celtic upbringing, and brought tears to the eye speaking about how proud his late father would’ve been of him as well as his wish to make his mum and family proud.
Neil Lennon, meanwhile, now must decide what to do with what’s now an intriguing selection at the back.
Christopher Jullien and Kristoffer Ajer have been his first-choice partnership so far this season. It seems unfathomable that he keeps it that way, however. With the fanfare surrounding Duffy’s arrival and the saga we had to endure before he arrived, he’ll be a first-choice before time.
It could even be the case that Lennon goes to a 3-5-2 instead. Perhaps Duffy in the centre of a back three alongside both Jullien and Ajer could work, albeit there are question marks over what you do with talented players such as Hatem Elhamed, Jeremie Frimpong, and Mo Elyounoussi in that system.
His arrival just brings options, and he arrives here with a point to prove. To prove that he can adapt to Celtic’s winning mentality. To prove that he can go out and win every single week whilst bringing home silverware and being individually impressive.
Playing for Celtic isn’t all good press and fun media days. Now we’re about to find out whether Duffy can deal with the rigours of playing with the champions. All signs so far, of course, suggest that won’t be a problem for him.
In other news, two big Celtic concerns have been erased during the international break.
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