Maryan Shved is now a Celtic player after his loan spell in Ukraine ended. The winger was playing for Karpaty Lviv after Celtic signed him from and then loaned him back to the top-flight outfit.
The youth international, who will become our first ever Ukrainian, netted 15 goals in 26 matches this season. He was Brendan Rodgers’ final signing as Hoops manager – making a £2million switch in January.
Shved will join up with Celtic after this month’s Scottish Cup final but are the Hoops making a big mistake by delaying until then?
Should Shved be considered now?
It’s fair to assume that the winger is eligible to play for Celtic in either of our last two matches. He’s been signed and presumably registered, and has simply returned from a loan spell.
There’s nothing really holding him back from making a late surge for the first team. He’s match fit having played non-stop football since February. He’s also in red-hot form after netting four goals in his last five. Shved was playing at a high level in Ukraine so he wouldn’t need to be protected too much from Scottish football.
Obviously he doesn’t know his teammates, which may be the main reason why we won’t see him soon. Celtic will probably wish not to throw him into a high pressure situation on his debut for fear of ruining his hopes.
Some players thrive on pressure though. The likes of Scott Sinclair and James Forrest scored on their debuts, so why couldn’t another winger? It’s not as if we’re blessed for them at the minute.
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