Sebastian Tounekti has felt the highs of Celtic after just his first game.
First impressions are key, and many loved Tounekti’s debut performance against Kilmarnock last week, as Celtic netted a stoppage-time winner to seal the points.
Yes, it’s still early days, but Brendan Rodgers has been crying out for wide players with quality, and whilst Tounekti was a late arrival during the 2025 summer transfer window, at least he is now in the building.
James McFadden was on commentary to watch the 23-year-old’s debut at Rugby Park, but days later, he totally dismissed the comparisons being made.
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James McFadden dismisses Sebastian Tounekti’s comparisons
The Open Goal panel were giving Tounekti his flowers, including how he already looks a far better player than Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
That’s when Paul Slane suggested that Tounekti ‘reminds’ him of a younger version of McFadden.
But the former Scotland international was quick to respond, and explained that’s not the case because he simply ‘didn’t have any kind of speed’ that the new signing has in his locker.
Gordon Dalziel: “I have got to say, the difference between the two wingers (Tounekti and Balikwisha) is night and day, isn’t it? That guy on the right-hand side reverses into training. He doesn’t know how to go forward.”
Paul Slane: “That was a cracker, wasn’t it? Tounekti. He looks very good, doesn’t he?”
Si Ferry: “Very exciting.”
Slane: “A bit like you (McFadden).”
McFadden: “No, he’s not. Definitely not like a young me. I didn’t have any kind of speed. He looked good.
“I think having the wingers in definitely helps, especially with Tounekti, you have got a guy that wants to stretch a game. That wants to take people on. That wants to create. I think that helps. It then creates space for the wee runs we are seeing with midfielders getting forward, or fullback overlapping and underlapping.
“I think that is going to make a big difference.”
Is McFadden a Celtic fan?
McFadden is probably one of the best Scottish players never to have played for a team like Celtic, with the versatile forward enjoying a great career in the English Premier League.
After coming through at Motherwell, he went on to play for the likes of Everton and Birmingham City, but never Celtic, even though he represented three different Scottish sides in his career.
McFadden did grow up a Celtic fan and had numerous chances to move to Parkhead, but speaking in 2023, he explained why it never happened, as quoted by Football Scotland.
“When I was younger, Celtic came in for me, but Motherwell never accepted the offer,” stated McFadden. “They tried to sign me before I left Everton the first time, before I went to Birmingham and tried to sign me when I was at Birmingham.
“They never accepted the offers. The last time it was my decision after leaving Birmingham. It just didn’t feel right. I got offered a better opportunity to go back to Everton. Everton had offered me a contract where if I played so many games, I’d get a two-year deal at the end of it. It just didn’t feel right.”
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