For a moment, it was a sense of Déjà vu for Maik Nawrocki when he left Celtic in the summer.
Given that Brendan Rodgers was hardly playing Nawrocki, even leaving him out of some of Celtic’s matchday squads, he opted to join German second-tier side Hannover 96 on a season-long loan deal.
But whilst Nawrocki sat in northern Germany, he would have felt like he was back in Glasgow, because he was hardly playing.
At first, injuries played their part, with the Polish defender playing a behind-closed-doors friendly match last month and then representing Hannover’s B side, as he waited to earn his debut and those much-needed minutes he has been craving.
And now, the door has finally opened…
Maik Nawrocki provides an assist and starts three games on the bounce for Hannover 96
Nawrocki had to wait until October to earn his first set of minutes, and now he has started three games on the bounce.
That resulted in a 3-0 win, where he played an hour, a 2-2 draw against their promotion rivals SV 07 Elversberg, and then losing 3-2 to another rival in SV Darmstadt 98 before the November international break.
It’s a sign that Nawrocki’s fortunes are changing because many felt that he was unlucky during his time at Celtic.
Nonetheless, this is how WhoScored rated the 24-year-old’s performances:
- 7.13 rating for 3-0 win vs Eintracht Braunschweig
- 7.70 rating for 2-2 vs Elversberg
- 7.12 rating for 3-2 defeat vs Darmstadt
Those are some solid ratings from Nawrocki, and it will be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming months.
Hannover are a big club in Germany, and their task is simple: to earn promotion back to the Bundesliga.
Perhaps, with Cameron Carter-Vickers’ long-term injury, some Celtic fans might argue that Nawrocki should be back in the green and white colours.
But Celtic need a new long-term manager in place for anyone to make that sort of call.
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