Celtic told there is ‘pressure’ from the board to play Hoops star who showed ‘nothing’ in pre-season

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It was a productive, fitness-boosting and a rather mixed pre-season for Celtic.

All of it started with Celtic beating Queen’s Park, and then ended with a penalty shootout win against Al-Ahli in the Como Cup in Italy. 

The one big dark cloud over Celtic and Brendan Rodgers’ head is, what is his best XI ahead of Flag Day and the Premiership opener against St Mirren, and how is the squad shaping up?

Unfortunately, there are far too many questions than answers, as pre-season, as well as the 2025 summer transfer market, haven’t helped matters.

And a certain Adam Idah is taking some serious verbal pelters along the way.

• READ MORE: ‘You need to keep hold’ – Celtic told Benjamin Nygren is a reason why the club won’t sell £2m star

Adam Idah and Shin Yamada compared at Celtic

In total, Rodgers has four bona fide strikers to pick from, with two of them being new signings in Callum Osmand and Shin Yamada.

Yet, the Celtic manager still wants another number nine and more goals to his squad, which tells you everything you need to know about how he feels about the current crop on board.

Added to that, Charlie Mulgrew agreed with a Celtic fan on Go Radio that Idah has done ‘absolutely nothing’ in pre-season, and the Republic of Ireland star should be taking ‘advice’ from Yamada on how to ‘hold the ball up.’

A caller stated: “See, Idah, he has shown absolutely nothing in pre-season. Absolutely nothing. See Shin Yamada, he played 45 minutes (against Al-Ahli), and he did more in 45 minutes than Adam Idah has done all pre-season. 

“In fact, Adam Idah should ask Yamada for advice on how to hold the ball up, because he does it better. You laugh, Charlie, but Yamada has shown great strength holding up that ball, but Adam Idah would struggle to hold up that ball.”

Mulgrew responded: “I think you are bang on. I think Idah’s hold-up play needs a lot of improvement.

“But the reality is, I don’t know how long they are going to give him. I would imagine they will give him the start of the season to see what he does.  He needs to improve. Hold the ball up. There are a lot of things to his game that he needs to improve on.”

‘Pressure’ to play Adam Idah

This is Idah’s second full season in Glasgow, after that fruitful six months on loan from Norwich City, including scoring the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers in 2024.

That led to Celtic paying ‘£9 million’ for his services, and that was discussed by Mulgrew.

The former defender made an interesting claim, including how he thinks there is ‘pressure’ from the board to play Idah, because of that huge price tag over his head.

“The reality of it is, when a club spend £9 million on a striker, there is a pressure from the board, and for people to play him,” added Mulgrew.

“But then again, that only lasts so long. Like you say, who knows, only Brendan Rodgers and the staff in there would know.”