Tomas Cvancara is coming into quite the situation at Celtic.
The team are at risk of falling nine points adrift of the Scottish Premiership summit if their top-of-the-table clash with Hearts doesn’t go to plan on Sunday.
Martin O’Neill has shown exceptional leadership to stabilise Celtic in both of his interim spells, however. This is no longer a team that looks bereft of confidence, as they did under Wilfried Nancy.
It’s more an issue of quality; the team needs help from their January signings. In an attack which has struggled for goals this season, Cvancara simply has to contribute from the beginning.
Chris Sutton thinks it’s a familiar situation to when he joined the club himself in 2000.
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Chris Sutton on Celtic signing Tomas Cvancara
O’Neill has insisted that Cvancara is not a target man, despite his height.
He is, instead, an agile, technically confident striker with bags of pace.
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Regardless of what kind of player he is, Sutton has no doubt that he’ll be carrying a burden in Glasgow.
In his column for the Daily Record, he said: “Celtic fans had been left so desperate for a new hitman due the time it took their club to finally land one that it only pours more burden onto the new signing.
“The punters want an instant impact. You can’t blame them, they’ve had to wait long enough to see a new striker.
“In one way, it represents a monumental opportunity for Cvancara. Go into a top-of-the-table clash, run riot, bag a crucial goal and it’s an absolutely perfect start.
“But, by the same token, if he’s handed a start and gets dominated by Craig Halkett and Stuart Findlay, he’ll be judged straight away by some. That’s life in Glasgow.
“It’s a strain not of his making given the fact he’s just walked in the door and that’s a tough place to be.
“Martin was at pains to point out that Cvancara was not a target man and that left me intrigued about what to expect.
“There’s clearly a talent in there. The fact Borussia Moenchengladbach were willing to spend a pretty big sum of money to take him from his homeland says as much, even if, for whatever reasons, it didn’t happen for him in the Bundesliga, or Turkey.
“He has maybe lost his way since leaving Sparta Prague, but Celtic can benefit from the fact he must have a point to prove. I know I had one when I arrived in Glasgow. My previous season at Chelsea was a disappointing one, so the bit was between my teeth.
“It’s a big ask to go straight into Tynecastle and deliver, yet that’s the challenge he faces.”
Should Tomas Cvancara start against Hearts this weekend?
The career of Celtic signing Tomas Cvancara
Despite making his name at Sparta Prague, Cvancara was on the books of arch-rivals Slavia until the age of 18.
He made his senior debut for Jablonec, with whom he faced Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic in 2021. Sparta gambled in signing him a year later.
An excellent minutes-per-goal record at Sparta piqued the interest of Borussia Monchengladbach, who signed him for £9 million in 2023. However, that move didn’t work out.
Playing in a variety of positions and formations, he was unable to hold down a starting spot at Gladbach. After a frustrating loan in Turkey, he now comes to Celtic in a situation of mutual desperation.
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