Michel-Ange Balikwisha was one of many players who summed up the mess of Celtic’s recruitment in recent times.
Signed last summer under Brendan Rodgers, it’s amazing to think that Celtic paid £5 million for Balikwisha’s talents.
Yet the winger struggled to make the matchday squad during the second half of the season, as Martin O’Neill guided Celtic to the domestic double.
Now with O’Neill back in the building for next season, Frank McAvennie wants a clearout. He thinks Balikwisha needs to be one of the departing parties and feels he can be ‘outstanding’ elsewhere.
“I think the boy Balikwisha has to go and play, because I don’t think he is going to get a game,” said McAvennie.
“If you can’t get rid of him by selling him, let him go and play somewhere else – Maybe this boy Balikwisha, he will go away, and he will be outstanding.”
Michel-Ange Balikwisha: flop or unfairly treated?
Some Celtic players don’t have the ‘balls’ to play for the club
The pressure is immense at Celtic, even if players only realise it once they put on a shirt.
But McAvennie thinks there are too many currently in the squad, who just don’t have the ‘balls’ to play for the champions of Scotland.
Speaking on his Let Me Be Frank podcast, McAvennie urged Celtic to ‘get rid’ of these players, even if it means losing money.
McAvennie is right in what he is saying, but perhaps he never met the Celtic board, because you doubt they will allow that to happen.
“You have to get rid of a lot of players,” said McAvennie. “No matter what.
“I know you are going to be losing money on some of them. But even if you get them out and their wages.
“I think the boy Balikwisha has to go and play, because I don’t think he is going to get a game. If you can’t get rid of him by selling him, let him go and play somewhere else.
“As I keep saying, and you might be fed up with it. Celtic is a massive club to play for. Some people just don’t have the balls to play that jersey.
“Maybe this boy Balikwisha, he will go away, and he will be outstanding. The boy Welsh, he was a great player for Motherwell. Didn’t do it at Celtic. Outstanding at Motherwell.
“In the last year or two, nobody is scared of Celtic. I think Martin will change that.”
Writing was on the wall after Balikwisha’s Celtic debut
The writing was on the wall right from the start with Balikwisha.
Rewind to the start of the season. Rodgers is in the Celtic dugout, and Russell Martin is in the Rangers dugout.
The first Glasgow derby finished in the most boring, stale and woeful goalless draw you will ever see.
That was Balikwisha’s debut, and it was an unforgettable one. Even Charlie Mulgrew called him out at the time.
“It’s a hard game to judge him on at Ibrox straight away,” said Mulgrew in September. “What surprised me a wee bit about him, though, was that I thought he would be quicker.
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but he didn’t look too quick to me. He looked like more of a technical type of player, maybe an inside sort of ten.
“He had a chance to take on Tavernier a couple of times, and it seems to have gone out of the game. Where is it that wingers go at their full-back?”
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