Celtic defender Josip Juranovic has expertly put the media in their place with their over-the-top Rangers hype after the signing of Aaron Ramsey on loan.
There was plenty of fanfare and media fawning over the deadline-day move from the Ibrox club. Ramsey is currently with Rangers until the end of the season in a loan move from Juventus. However, it’s unclear whether they even have an option to buy him.
Regardless, there’s been far too much in the way of over-exaggerated analysis on the deal. Not least the likes of Kris Boyd trying to state it was Scottish football’s most high-profile signing since Paul Gascoigne [Sky Sports].
However, Juranovic was asked about the signing and gave a class response as he firmly provided the media with a look at the bigger picture.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Josip said: “It’s just Ramsey. It is nothing special.
“If you have, say, Cristiano Ronaldo in the team and the team is not going well, it’s not just one player who will change the game, you need to play all 11.
“We have really quality players here — and we need to watch ourselves.”
Josip Juranovic remarks exactly what you would expect from a Croatia international
For players such as Juranovic, the Ramsey hype must be absolutely bizarre. After all, he comes up against much more talented footballers when on international duty with Croatia. This is hardly going to be anything that worries him.
The same goes for many of the Celtic international stars. Coming up against Ramsey is hardly something Celtic’s Scotland contingent would fear on international duty. So it certainly isn’t going to send them into a panic with their club either.
The positive is that Celtic can burst the Rangers bubble as quickly as tonight. Even if Ramsey isn’t playing this evening, a win in this Glasgow derby would see the Ibrox club’s confidence absolutely shot.
The Celtic dressing room must be absolutely itching to get one over on them and end some of this nonsensical hype.
You see, it’s not as if Ramsey isn’t a good player. We all know he can be a class act on his day. But not even an on-fire Robbie Keane was able to turn around our title hopes in the 2009/10 campaign. There’s no reason why Ramsey should do any better for Rangers.
It’s good to see this kind of attitude from Juranovic also. This is exactly the kind of response we want from the Celtic players.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou addresses what happened with Celtic midfielder Ismaila Soro on deadline day
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