It’s not the most pertinent question at Celtic just now, but you just have to wonder what Ismaila Soro has to do to get some more minutes on the pitch.
Soro, who signed back in January to a sum of £2million from Bnei Yehuda (STV), arrived at Celtic with a reputation of being a tough-tackling defensive midfielder. Unfortunately we never really got the chance to see much of that towards the end of last season due to the global health pandemic.
However, he was a big part of Celtic’s pre-season campaign and featured in several matches against the likes of Lyon and Hibernian to name a couple. It looked as though he was going to make an impact, and in a massive season for the club too.
Not just because it’s the potential 10-in-a-row season, but because it’s the year in which we need to find a successor to Scott Brown, whose contract is up at the end of the current campaign.
It was no surprise to see Neil Lennon fail to feature Soro in the first few games of the season. Brown and Callum McGregor quite rightly had those spots nailed down to start off with. Olivier Ntcham was also the next in line as back-up.
But Soro was given his first-ever Celtic appearance back in September, coming on for the final 12 minutes against Ross County. Granted, it was only 12 minutes, but it was a busy 12 minutes.
The Ivorian was on the ball regularly and managed to show a desire to get the ball forward and make an impression. He also managed a couple of interceptions in the closing stages as he did all he could to get noticed.
Fans want to see more of Soro
The fans were pleased with what he showed too, and there was a clear hunger from the support to see what more he could offer. This was also all the more pressing considering Brown and McGregor were both having poor starts to the season.
Since then, however, Celtic have played seven matches and Soro has seldom been seen. His only other appearance was a ridiculously-short four-minute cameo in a convincing 3-0 win against Hibernian.
It would perhaps be acceptable if Celtic’s midfield this season had been dynamic and full of goals and creativity. It hasn’t. McGregor hasn’t been his usual self whilst there has been a noticeable slowing of the tempo in captain Brown’s weekly performances. Ntcham has also done very little to impress.
Between both new signing David Turnbull and Soro, we need to start seeing more of them in the coming weeks.
The fact that Soro in particular has made every matchday squad domestically this season and is in the Europa League squad for the group stages, it’s clear he’s showing enough in training for Lennon to give him a role.
But our midfield quite clearly needs an injection of energy into it. Why not play the player who showed just that in the one real appearance he was given this season?
With so many questions to be answered regarding who takes over from Brown and who will provide the midfield with the freshness it needs, Soro seems like one of the prime candidates. It’s time to start seeing some more of him.
In other news, an England international who turned Celtic down must now be regretting his decision.
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