‘He played number nine’ – Andy Halliday’s exciting claim after watching Celtic’s Benjamin Nygren

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Celtic’s next pre-season stop sees them travel to Portugal.

The first two pre-season matches were victories against Queen’s Park and Cork City, but Celtic’s games against Estrela da Amadora and Sporting Lisbon could see new faces take to the pitch.

That includes summer signing Benjamin Nygren after his transfer from FC Nordsjælland, with the attacker arriving at Lennoxtown over the weekend; however, Brendan Rodgers didn’t want to risk him for the game in Ireland on Tuesday night.

Celtic fans saw Hayato Inamura for the first time in Cork, and they loved what the defender produced, and are now wondering what they will see from Nygren.

There is a sense of suspense over his head, but Andy Halliday provided some exciting insight into the player from Sweden.

• READ MORE: ‘He won’t play’ – Open Goal pundits row over Andy Halliday’s prediction about Celtic youngster

Andy Halliday’s exciting prediction for Celtic’s new signing, Benjamin Nygren

Nicolas Kuhn is about to leave, so it puts even more pressure on the new attacking players to deliver for the 2025/26 campaign.

But Halliday told Open Goal that he thinks Nygren will prove to be a ‘very good’ signing after watching him in action in Copenhagen.

What’s interesting is that the game Halliday watched, Nygren played as a number nine, and the Motherwell midfielder liked what he saw.

“The Swedish boy does look like a cracker, doesn’t he?! From what I have read in the paper,” said Si Ferry. “He scored a lot of goals last year, didn’t he?!”

Halliday responded: “16 goals or something. Went to Nordsjælland, Copenhagen, and he was playing.”

Ferry added: “That team have the best record in Europe for selling. Doing what Celtic do. Develop and sell them on for big fees.”

Halliday then predicted: “I think he will be good, though. I think he will be very good. I only saw him in one game, but he played number nine in that game. But you (Paul Slane) are saying that he is a midfielder.”

What positions can Nygren play?

With someone like Kuhn, he was one-footed; he loved cutting onto his left foot and playing on the right flank.

But Celtic’s new boy is slightly different, including the ability to play on the same flank that Kuhn used throughout his time in Glasgow.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Rodgers uses the player, because both flanks need legs, and the versatility from the new signing is great to see.