It has been a strong pre-season so far for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic.
The standouts have been the last two results and performances, including Celtic beating Sporting Lisbon and Newcastle United during this past week.
Before the real thing kicks off, when Celtic host St Mirren on August 3, fans are getting a taste of how the players are performing, including the new faces through the doors.
Celtic have signed seven new players during the 2025 summer transfer window, including signing versatile attacker Benjamin Nygren.
- READ MORE: The heartwarming thing Benjamin Nygren did before and after Celtic’s win against Newcastle United
Benjamin Nygren dubbed a ‘revelation’ at Celtic
Chris Sutton has shared an interesting view on the goings-on at Celtic this summer, and as always, he was pretty forthright about everything.
Speaking in his Daily Record column, the former striker thinks the result and performance in Lisbon was ‘the worst possible result’ because it ‘didn’t tell us anything we didn’t really know’, in terms of the squad.
Although from what Sutton is seeing from Nygren, he very much likes it, to the point that he called the new boy a ‘revelation.’
“It might have looked like a morale-boosting pre-season victory for Celtic (against Sporting),” said Sutton.
“But seeing off Sporting Lisbon the other night might have actually been the worst possible result for Brendan Rodgers. His side performed pretty well, but it didn’t tell us anything we didn’t really know.
“The performance of Benjamin Nygren was perhaps the one revelation, but we know Callum McGregor is a player, we are well aware of what Reo Hatate can do and how dangerous Daizan Maeda can be, or that Adam Idah needs to be a bit sharper in front of goal at times.
“But results like that one shouldn’t kid anyone on. Celtic are still way short of where they need to be in terms of the squad.
“And we can’t keep saying the same thing every week with the new season and the Champions League qualifier inching ever closer.”
Celtic without Nicolas Kuhn, Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota and Matt O’Riley
There is a lot of pressure on Nygren because he is probably going to be thrown straight into the deep end when the new season begins.
That’s because Nicolas Kuhn has joined Como, and Jota is injured for the long term, so that’s a lot of goals out of the side.
Not forgetting Kyogo Furuhashi’s exit during the January transfer window, and he hasn’t been replaced yet, but Sutton thinks Nygren can chip in with goals.
“Celtic have lost Nicolas Kuhn, Kyogo and Jota to injury, chuck in Matt O’Riley last summer, and that’s a huge amount of goals that have gone from the team,” added Sutton.
“Nygren looks like he might be able to chip in with a few, but Celtic right now are in a precarious position.”
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