Celtic boss Neil Lennon has provided a tantalising tease that there’ll be a new strike partnership featuring Odsonne Edouard and Albian Ajeti, speaking to club outlet Celtic TV today.
Ajeti has already played with Bhoys attacker Mohamed Elyounoussi at Basel and the manager was asked by presenter Gerry McCulloch whether he’ll be looking for that link up to be fruitful this season.
Lennon responded, adding Edouard into the mix: “Yeah, you’ve got Odsonne there and that’ll be a good partnership as well. And then obviously the dialogue he has with his midfield players.
“He won’t take too long to integrate, he’s been playing British football for over a year now. He had a very successful time at a really good club in Basel, so he’s got the pedigree.”
Then asked about tactical flexibility and if Ajeti can fit into both a one-striker and two-striker formation, Lennon would continue on Celtic TV: “Absolutely yeah. He can do both. There’s no question.
“I’m hoping he hits the ground running and settles down.”
Although a 3-5-2 formation really helped the Bhoys push on in the second half of last season after the winter break, Lennon has opted for a more familiar 4-2-3-1 in the opening matches of the 2020/21 campaign.
This looked a little too predictable and resulted in a lack of creativity against Kilmarnock last week. As demonstrated by WhoScored, Celtic managed just two shots on target at Rugby Park.
There have been calls from some Celtic fans for Lennon to once again unleash two forwards.
It nows appears that Ajeti might have the kind of starting quality Lennon has been waiting for to revert to that kind of system.
He scored 43 goals for Basel before his switch to West Ham United.
A tactical refresh could be just the thing we need to kickstart our season.
In other news, Ajeti has revealed that Barcelona once tried to sign him as a teenager.
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