Sky Sports duo agree Celtic star has completely changed their minds under Brendan Rodgers

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Don’t judge a book or certain players by its cover because that has been the case with Celtic this season.

Everything is rosy in the Celtic garden, you can’t have too much to complain about, either on the domestic circuit or in Europe.

Yes, well done to Aberdeen for keeping up with the pace, but Celtic are steamrolling nearly everyone in front of them and even put six goals past Jimmy Thelin’s side in the League Cup semi-final.

Added to that, Celtic are showing serious fight in the Champions League after that one game to forget against Borussia Dortmund. 

Yet, only last season, you could argue that Brendan Rodgers’ return wasn’t plain sailing, even if he delivered two trophies, including another title.

There came one point during the winter period when there were chants of ‘sack the board’ because supporters weren’t happy with the recruitment.

The argument was that fans didn’t like the project-like signings that were brought in, but that didn’t stop the club from doing the same in the January transfer market.

And one man sums it all up.

James McFadden and Kris Boyd change their minds on Nicolas Kuhn at Celtic

Nicolas Kuhn arrived in January, with a lot of expectations and hope that he could hit the ground running, but that didn’t happen.

James McFadden touched upon how he wasn’t showing that ‘explosive pace’ and he was playing too ’safe’, as he told Sky Sports Football (10/11/24 at 5:15 pm). 

Kris Boyd even claimed that, come this summer, Celtic fans would have ‘wished they had the receipt’ for Kuhn.

But, fast forward to the present, and everything has changed on its head, including how Kuhn is now being perceived.

“When he arrived, he was under pressure and he was brought in, everyone expected him, Jota had left, you are looking and thinking ‘he needs to perform’,” said Boyd. “It might have been the best thing to happen to him. He was getting a little bit of stick.

“Sometimes when you come in and everything is all rosy, you think ‘I have arrived’. Getting that criticism, then having to come back in summer and knowing ‘I have to work my socks off’. Probably not to get into the team, but back to a level of performance that have shown why Celtic wanted to bring him to the football club. You go back to pre-season when Celtic were in America, he was outstanding over there as well. He has come back and been unbelievable. He is at the top of his game right now. A lot of Celtic fans would have wished they still had the receipt in the summer, maybe send him back, they won’t now, that’s for sure.”

McFadden added: “He is a player full fit and fully confident. You think back to last season, we didn’t see that explosive pace we told he had, but we didn’t see it. He was coming back. His first touch was always back. It was safe. He didn’t look to be taking risks. I know he had a dental problem where he was struggling when he first came to Celtic. The pre-season has been exactly what he has needed because he is bringing the numbers, scoring goals and providing assists – he has shown he isn’t a one-trick pony. He was potentially showing that he was going to be that – the numbers he is putting up right now are really impressive. What’s that going to be come the end of the season? Because his levels don’t look like they are going down. They are going up.”

Kuhn’s stats last season compared to this season for Celtic

It has been well-documented that Kuhn had dental issues, which meant that he couldn’t eat right and that seriously affects your physical performance.

And let’s be honest, it’s not like Celtic were playing free-flowing football at the time, the performances were pretty scratchy.

So, as a player, you have to walk into that, plus the pressure cooker of a club like Celtic, that’s why he only had three goals and three assists to his name.

But after 17 games in all competitions this season, he has ten goals and 11 assists to his name.

And it’s scary to think about the levels Kuhn can reach because, at the same time Matt O’Riley scores a memorable debut goal for Brighton, the Bhoys have found their next superstar.