Celtic have made the decision to cut Vakoun Issouf Bayo from making the Europa League squad.
The Hoops’ decision comes amid UEFA rules that stipulate only three new additions can be added. As expected, Celtic chose Jeremy Toljan, Timothy Weah, and Oliver Burke to take the spots.
That means no place to face Valencia for Bayo. He remains the club’s only substantial permanent signing of the window, after signing for the Hoops for a price in the region of £2million from Dunajska Streda of Slovakia.’
There’s unlikely to be much if any fan anger over this decision. It’s the right choice by the club when you take everything into consideration.
Firstly, Bayo hasn’t been in a single match-day squad since signing in January. He’s still building up his fitness, with the Valencia double-header starting next Thursday.
Given he hasn’t played a professional game of football since the first of December, he’s highly unlikely to suddenly be ready for the visit of the La Liga giants.
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The argument for Toljan is clear
You could easily point to Jeremy Toljan and use his lack of games as an example. After all, the German right-back only signed on deadline-day, and hadn’t previously made an appearance this season for Borussia Dortmund.
But he proved to be of good value in the 2-0 win over St Johnstone on Sunday. Added to that, his pace will be necessary considering Mikael Lustig has proven to be too slow against better sides.
At the moment, it looks like Toljan is the best player in his position. Not including him in the squad would’ve been madness. Bayo, on the other hand, doesn’t have that same luxury.
Ahead of him are Odsonne Edouard, Timothy Weah, and Oliver Burke. Burke and Weah of course took two of the new signing slots, but that hardly needs justifying. They have five goals between them already at the Hoops, and both look explosive.
Bayo remains in the process of getting up to speed. It would’ve been nice to have him available and ready to go, but nobody can argue with this decision from the club.