The arrival of Michel-Ange Balikwisha to Celtic was eagerly anticipated by the Parkhead support.
Balikwisha’s links to Celtic ran for well over a year as the Bhoys chased the Belgian international winger to strengthen the first-team.
However, despite the strong rumours, Balikwisha’s move to Celtic didn’t happen until this summer as the Parkhead club splashed £5m to finally bring him to Glasgow.
And now, after just 12 appearances for Celtic, Hugh Keevins has launched a bitter attack on the winger which has gone a step too far.
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Hugh Keevins’ disgraceful attack on Celtic winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha
Balikwisha is clearly struggling to break into the Celtic team. Playing second fiddle to Daizen Maeda was always going to be tough so time was needed to let the Belgian settle.
But the Hoops winger has received some of the harshest criticism of a new Celtic player we have ever seen from a pundit and, quite frankly, it was well out of order.
Keevins said on Superscoreboard, “Balikwisha will never, if he lives to be 100, be a Celtic player.”
Duncan: “Are you sure? Done? You’ve written off a few in your time that have come back to bite you.”
Keevins: “He’s arguably beginning, beginning to make me think that it might be worse than Yang. There’s nothing there.”
Duncan: “Listen, I don’t, I ain’t predicting he’s going to be any good. I’m just making sure that you’re sure.”
Keevins: “If he’s on the park, it’s a betrayal, because he shouldn’t be anywhere near the park.”
You can watch the stinging attack below.
The criticism of Michel-Ange Balikwisha at Celtic must stop
Criticism of a Celtic player when playing consistently poorly is absolutely fine as long as it’s balanced and measured.
Keevins’ was neither. The pundit refused to address the fact that despite making 12 appearances, ten of those were from the bench with eight giving Balikwisha less than 30 minutes to make his mark in a Celtic jersey.
Overall, the Belgian is averaging 26 minutes per game but has still created two assists, with one for the vital winner against Motherwell last month.
This type of criticism is hyperbolic nonsense and serves no purpose other than to create sensationalist headlines from a pundit who spends far too much time looking for a rage bait reaction than delivering a balanced view on a player.
And as Gordon Duncan rightly pointed out in the video, Keevins has form for this type of snap judgement and it really has to stop.
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