Luis Palma’s time at Celtic certainly has had a mixed bag of fortunes for the Honduran winger.
Palma left Celtic for Lech Poznan on loan at the start of the summer when he thought he must have had a chance at Parkhead this season.
With Brendan Rodgers looking to strengthen Celtic’s forward areas, Palma would have been forgiven for thinking he could work his way back into the team.
However, the Celtic manager had other ideas and Palma was shipped out for his second loan spell as his Parkhead career slowly fizzles out.
And here, Celtic hero Emilio Izaguirre tells his fellow countryman exactly why he hasn’t made it in Paradise with some brutal home truths.
Emilio Izaguirre tells Luis Palma he wasn’t ‘intense’ enough at Celtic
Palma enjoyed a sparkling start to his Celtic career where he scored ten goals and created ten assists in the first four months of his five-year deal.
That form soon fizzled out and Palma was sent to Olympiacos out on loan. Now at Lech Poznan, Izaguirre spells out why the Honduran winger is no longer part of Brendan Rodgers’ plans.
Izaguirre said in The Herald, “I think Luis Palma needed to be more intense when he was at Celtic and actually finish the 90 minutes.
“I don’t know if he has good pre-seasons, I don’t know about injuries, but you can see that he never seems to be able to finish the 90 minutes.
“He’s a winger and has to run many miles a game, press and make runs. I’m not sure he did that. But he still has the potential to return to form.
“He’s now in Poland and we hope he gets the chance to play and enjoy it because he definitely has what it takes.
“I have always believed in the national team players, which is why many of them play in Europe. We have quality.”
What Luis Palma said about struggling at Celtic
Palma, for his faults on the pitch as a player, has never once bad-mouthed Celtic off it.
Earlier this summer, Palma opened up on why he couldn’t recapture the form that threatened to turn him into a Celtic hero in the first few months of his Parkhead career.
Palma said, “Well, I noticed it in Greece [the step up in quality], because that’s when I left Honduras directly for Greece.
“I went to Aris Thessaloniki and saw the kind of pace they played there. And then when I went to Scotland, to Celtic, playing in the Champions League was incredible, and you realize the pace there is in both Central America and Europe.
“The truth is, we’re very far from that elite, but as I said, I hope that in the future we won’t be so far away.”
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