Struggling Celtic player out on loan defies critics with first goal in 17 months

By John McGinley

December 28, 2020

Celtic winger Marian Shved is beginning to show signs of life out on loan at KV Mechelen in Belgium, despite being blasted by his manager earlier this month.

Shved came off the bench to score the winner for the Belgian top-flight side against Mouscron on Sunday.

He took a difficult crossed ball down with his midriff before shifting to his right and smashing home a quality finish.

It’s Shved’s first goal of the season and set him up well to have a more productive 2021.

The Ukrainian has had a problematic season away from Glasgow and recently came under fire from Wouter Vrancken.

The Mechelen manager said to HLN at the start of December: “The players and staff do everything they can to include Shved in the story. But he puts himself above the group. He regularly arrives late and pretends not to be here. The staff and the players have talked to him several times. I spoke to him in private, I also addressed him in the group.

“Then if you don’t even get a response… Well, it stops. If you want to be a loner, you can. But then go play billiards or something. Then you don’t belong in this team, where everyone goes through the fire for each other. He is introverted. And his arrogance makes it worse.”

Celtic will be watching

These have apparently been motivating comments for the Celtic attacker.

He’s now appeared from the bench in two successive weeks. He also hadn’t scored a goal for anyone since July 2019, when he netted for Celtic against Kalju.

Shved’s next task will now be starting a match and finding some sort of consistency in the Mechelen team.

Celtic winger Marian Shved / (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group via Getty Images)

If he can settle and get minutes into his legs, the winger’s evident natural ability could see him spark into life.

Celtic will obviously be watching developments closely on the off chance he could still have a future in Glasgow.

In other news, we have identified a player who could add a lot to Celtic’s attack in the January transfer window.