Rennes midfielder Eduardo Camavinga has been awarded the Ligue 1 Player of the Month award.
The youngster, who is only 16, has featured in all six of Rennes’ matches this season. He was instrumental in the 2-1 win over PSG in August too. Many in the Celtic support may not remember, but he stood out well at Celtic Park in the 0-0 draw during pre-season also.
He’s the first Rennes player to actually win the Player of the Month award since March 2016. The winner on that occasion? Ousmane Dembele.
It’s certainly an incredible feat, and one that will boost his confidence further ahead of Thursday. Camavinga is highly likely to start the contest against Celtic, and should be directly up against Scott Brown.
It’s going to be our captain’s task to try and stop Camavinga getting into the game. In order to do so, it would be ideal for the Hoops captain to get tight to him from the off.
Celtic have to be wary of Rennes’ other dangers
Even if Mbaye Niang is an injury doubt, his quality can’t be ignored. If he does feature, Celtic will be fully aware of his pedigree after spells at AC Milan, Montpellier, and Watford respectively.
There is also the seriously menacing threat of attacking-midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud this Thursday night too. He was another to come on at Parkhead and look extremely lively. The likes of Callum McGregor struggled to keep Bourigeaud quiet, and he came close to winning Rennes the game in pre-season.
Bourigeaud will look to pick up any second balls, and Celtic can’t allow him a sight of goal on Thursday night if they want to keep a clean sheet.
There are also plenty of other fine talents rippling throughout this Rennes side. James Lea-Siliki, Clement Grenier, and Damien Da Silva proves that they have quality all over the pitch.
But perhaps none of them will be coming into the game on as much of a high as Camavinga will. His Player of the Month award is a big boost for him.
Hopefully, Brown and co can keep him quiet on what will be a tough night in France.
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