Honduras star speaks out on Luis Palma Celtic struggles, tells him what to do now

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Celtic star Luis Palma has been rarely seen under Brendan Rodgers, barring one start against Falkirk and a few cameos as a substitute.

The 24-year-old has made four appearances in total this term but appears to be some way down the pecking order behind Daizen Maeda, Nicolas Kuhn and James Forrest.

Despite being drafted in at home in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final two weeks ago, Palma didn’t set the heather alight against Falkirk and was hooked after an hour for Hyunjun Yang.

Subsequently, he didn’t feature in Celtic’s rampant 6-0 victory at St Johnstone last Saturday or in the Bhoys’ heavy Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

With chances looking few and far between for Palma at the minute, his Honduras international teammate Andy Najar has spoken out on his struggles and has told him how to react to any external soundbites.

Andy Najar speaks out on Celtic winger Luis Palma

Najar has spoken honestly about his own experience of battling with a similar situation while at Anderlecht and has backed Palma to prove doubters wrong by getting back to the ‘level’ he showed last season at Celtic.

He stated [Diez]: “I tell him not to give up, I know it’s difficult what he’s going through. When I went to Anderlecht it was difficult for 10 months, nobody knows that. So I tell him not to give up, he will get back to his level, when he arrived he showed it and these are decisions of the coaches.”

“If they don’t give him the minutes he should keep training in the same way so that they give him the minutes or he can go to another team and leave again, prove that they were wrong.

“So keep fighting and we are waiting for him here in the national team.”

Luis Palma’s Celtic challenge is clear

Despite Palma registering 20 Celtic goal contributions last season, he has a lot of work to do in convincing some that he has the requisite qualities to force his way into Brendan Rodgers’ starting line-up.

Last season, he created 66 chances in total on league duty as the Bhoys eventually captured a third title in succession. However, his end product and consistency sometimes came under the microscope.

The positive for Palma is that Celtic will rotate their squad over the coming months to compensate for a hectic fixture schedule, offering opportunities to shine.

Hopefully, the Honduras international can rise to the challenge as the jury remains out on his capacity to contribute within Rodgers’ tactical framework.