Former Celtic star Timothy Weah has horrific start with Lille

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It’s fair to say that Timothy Weah’s Lille career has started in troubling fashion.

The USA wonderkid spent last season on loan at Celtic, and admitted towards the end of the season that he would be open to a return (The Scotsman).

However, Lille came in and bought him outright from PSG after his spell at Celtic ended prematurely. Weah was sent back before we played Rangers at Ibrox over a dispute regarding club vs country arrangements.

A frustration during the summer for sections of the support was that we didn’t go back in for him. After all, even though he only managed four goals in 17 appearances during his time in Scotland, he thoroughly impressed with his energy and technique.

But it looks like Celtic may have actually dodged a bullet so far. Weah, despite his fine spell at Parkhead, is currently sidelined with a hamstring tear. He’s missed Lille’s last seven matches, and has so far only made two appearances for the Ligue 1 side.

USA coach Gregg Berhalter stated that he had picked up a “very bad hamstring tear” as he ended up missing their September camp (Yahoo Sports). Given that he could’ve been with us, it looks like we may have made the right decision in not pinning our hopes on him. As it stands, there is no set date for his return.

Celtic won’t regret anything with our current firepower

Weah remains a terrific footballer, and there’s no denying he’ll eventually come back and could return stronger. But at this stage of the season, Celtic won’t regret not going back in for him.

Nobody truly knows what happened between Weah and Lennon. There’s two sides to every story, and us as fans don’t really know the truth. But looking at Celtic’s current strikeforce, they shouldn’t regret not going back in for him.

Odsonne Edouard has gotten better and better, whilst Vakoun Issouf Bayo is also starting to flourish. Leigh Griffiths may not be hitting his usual heights, but injury hasn’t helped him. You would still fancy Griff to shake off his thigh injury and make some impact if called upon.

It’s hardly been a first few months of the season where we’ve all been missing Weah. He did a fine job here and still could’ve been a good investment for the club in the long-term. But the truth is that Celtic now seem to have the firepower to achieve their goals in any case.

Celtic have scored 52 goals already this season alone. That’s an incredible number to reach by the end of September. Creativity hasn’t been a problem, so there’s no point pretending that Weah would’ve been the missing link.

He could’ve perhaps made a difference in the long run. But his hamstring tear suggests, for now at least, that Celtic made a smart move. That could change over time, but at the moment, Weah has still to reach the expectations many have for him.