Mohamed Elyounoussi’s brace against Hibernian may have wowed all of us, but the player himself is clearly a perfectionist.
It was the Norwegian’s second brace for the club since arriving on loan from Southampton at the tail-end of August. He’s slowly developing into arguably Celtic’s best signing of the summer – although Christopher Jullien and Hatem Abd Elhamed may have something to say about that.
Elyounoussi continued his stunning form yesterday after scoring his seventh goal in just 10 games for the club. Added to that, he also has a cool three assists to his name too.
But one of the main emotions in his head coming off the Hampden turf yesterday was frustration. Speaking in the Daily Record, Mo seemed a tad gutted not to have added more goals to his name against the Hibees.
“I would say I’m getting towards 100 percent with my performances now. If I’d been there already, I would probably have scored four goals out there. I should have scored four or five in the game.
“In the league, this cup, the Europa League, we’re doing well so it’s a good time to be a Celtic player right now. But I’m frustrated at my missed chances. I’ve been close twice now to scoring a hat-trick, first in the league and now in the cup.
“So that frustrates me, of course. Because I’m hungry and I always want to score more goals.”
Braces will do for now Mo!
You can sense that perfectionist side to Elyounoussi here. There’s genuine disappointment here that he didn’t add to his tally, and goodness knows he could’ve done.
The play-maker smashed a fine left-footed effort off the post at the start of the second half. He then had a couple of half-chances when he cut inside but failed to get a decent shot away. In addition to all of that, he set up Scott Brown with an incredibly selfless piece of play to make it 5-2 at the death.
His end product is most certainly improving on a weekly-basis. You can see how comfortable he is at the club, and his spirit-levels are clearly top-notch too.
Elyounoussi doesn’t come across as the shy, keeps-to-himself loan player. He’s right in the thick of the celebrations and making his delight known to the players and supporters. You can tell we’re doing great things for him just as he’s doing for us.
Talk of a permanent deal should be shelved for now. It’s worth remembering he was signed by Southampton for £16million (The Telegraph). Any deal for him isn’t going to be an easy thing to negotiate. The cards are all with the St Mary’s outfit, so pressurising the board to get something done is a tad harsh.
For now, we should just enjoy the tremendous technical ability he’s showing at Parkhead. And with a promise of more to come, that should only excite supporters even more regarding what he can bring to the table.
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