Luis Palma and his problems at Celtic have been well spoken about over the last 18 months or so.
Palma enjoyed a very good start to his Celtic career when he first signed for the club but after his first four months, the Honduran found himself fighting for his place in Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI.
Fleeting appearances from the bench then saw Palma make his Celtic exit to Olympiacos on loan where the 25-year-old made just 12 appearances.
Now at Lech Poznan on his second loan spell, Honduras boss Reinaldo Rueda has shared what he’s been telling Palma for ‘months, months, months’ about getting a permanent move away from Celtic after Honduras beat Haiti this morning in their bid to qualify for the World Cup.
Honduras boss explains Celtic winger Luis Palma’s position change
Honduras look on the road to qualify for next summer’s 2026 World Cup after a 3-0 win over Haiti last night leaves them top of their group after four games played.
The Honduras boss Reinaldo Rueda has already been vocal about Palma’s Celtic situation and here, he explains how a positional change may help the winger’s ‘issue’ at Parkhead.
Rueda told El Heraldo, “I think the national team played a well-rounded game, and these changes had their effect on something we’ve been talking about for months, months, months with Luis Palma.
“That Luis Palma, because of everything he’s been through, everything you know about his history, the issue of not settling down after Celtic and all that, he had to make a change in position, and well, we did a few minutes of rehearsal, and that gave us the chance to put together an attack with men who could be the variant.”
What Reinaldo Rueda has told Palma about a move ‘up to a bigger club’ than Celtic
Celtic are one of the biggest clubs in world football and Rueda has shared what he’s told Palma to do to get a move to an even bigger club.
Rueda continued in La Prensa, “Luis (Palma) is trying to adapt to a new position in his life, which he’s trying to do there (in Poland), and hopefully he’ll consolidate.
“I’ve been telling him for months that he needs to change positions to be able to move up to a bigger team or to transcend further.
“Because the characteristics of all the wingers in the world are different from Luis (Palma’s) characteristics.
“So that was something we needed him to be able to assume, and now he’s learning and needs to learn more in that position, because it’s a position that requires other characteristics, conceptualization, that he doesn’t play for himself but for the team.
“That he thinks about the team, that he does for the team, and that the team takes him out of his position.
“So, fortunately, he played well today, he has a very good feeling with Antony Lozano, they respect each other a lot, they love each other a lot.”
Palma’s time at Celtic looks all but over as Brendan Rodgers appears to prefer Daizen Maeda and Jota (when fit) in the Honduran’s left-wing position at the club.
Hopefully, one of two things will happen with Palma this season. He continues his excellent form for Lech Poznan and Honduras and gets a permanent move from Celtic.
Or he returns to Parkhead a much better player and forces his way into the Celtic starting XI. Unfortunately, the former is more likely to happen than the latter.
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