As always at 67HailHail, we like to keep you informed of our recent transfer targets’ career updates, but one we can’t seem to stop talking about is Mark McKenzie.
The reason for that? Well, the USA centre-back’s stock just keeps growing as he continues to achieve more and more as the weeks go by it seems. Whether that’s dominating Gonzalo Higuain or giving Thierry Henry’s Montreal Impact a hammering – McKenzie’s name continues to be in lights.
But last week was his most impressive week of them all. After having bagged a spot in the MLS Playoffs, McKenzie led his team to the Supporters’ Shield trophy. It’s the competition awarded to the team in the MLS with the highest points total across both conferences. It’s also the first time Philadelphia Union has ever won it.
However, at the end of last week, McKenzie also bagged individual recognition. Indeed, he was nominated as one of the top three defenders to be considered for the MLS Defender of the Year award.
McKenzie was voted for by current MLS players, coaches, and media figures. He’ll now compete for the award with Walker Zimmerman and Jonathan Mensah.
Celtic may have to overcome an arrogant narrative
There’s a clear appetite from the Celtic supporters to get this one done. When McKenzie teased a move elsewhere in the summer, his Twitter post was full of Hoops fans encouraging him to get over to Parkhead. This has all come from a report from Sky Sports in the summer that stated we were tracking him.
However, what’s also noticeable is an arrogance based in the US that makes them think McKenzie is far too good to operate in Scottish football.
Remember, former MLS star Charlie Davies stated on an official MLS podcast that he shouldn’t move to Celtic because of the quality of the league. Davies claimed that Scottish football was “just long ball”.
Having these kinds of thoughts being put into McKenzie’s head doesn’t help Celtic. Who knows what he thought of the club beforehand? But if pundits like Davies as well as journalists on social media continue to ridicule Scottish football or run a move to Scotland down, he could start to believe it’s all true.
Of course, the Hoops can never win in this argument either. If a player comes from a league that contains a base of supporters/pundits with a snobby view towards Scottish football, we can never do anything right. If McKenzie comes and stars, it’ll be because it’s too easy for him. If he arrives and struggles, it’ll be because the poor quality of the league set him back.
What McKenzie will learn here trumps anything he may be able to achieve at a lowly La Liga/Bundesliga outfit. Just ask the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama whether we stalled their careers. If you’re good enough, Celtic is one heck of a stepping stone.
As always, we’ll see what happens here. Hopefully, McKenzie wins his Defender of the Year award and can then sign up in Glasgow in the not too distant future.
In other news, the gauntlet has been thrown down to one Celtic star who “showed some amount of bottle”.
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