Edouard 2.0: Celtic dud who was sold for £1.4m is now better than Iheanacho
da dobrowin： Celtic’s striker situation is a complete mess.
da dobrowin： On deadline day, Adam Idah was sold to Swansea City for £7m, just 12 months on from making his loan move permanent for £9.5m, but this appeared a reasonable fee, given the Irishman’s underwhelming form during the previous campaign.
The Hoops wanted to sign Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht, but were never able to agree a fee with the Belgian club, while it transpired the Dane was never that keen on the move either, instead re-joining Ajax for €10m (around £8.6m).
Celtic supporters have enjoyed watching plenty of top-class strikers in recent years, Kyōgo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Moussa Dembélé and Odsonne Édouard to name but a few, but even a forgotten former Celtic centre-forward has been outscoring their new striker, Kalechi Iheanacho.
What Celtic supporters should expect from Kelechi Iheanacho
With the transfer window having closed and no senior recognised striker at the club, Celtic could only sign free agents, needing to do so before the UEFA squad registration deadline at 11pm last Tuesday.
In an act of desperation, they brought in Kelechi Ịheanachọ, only able to do so because Sevilla had agreed to terminate his contract, showing how much he was valued at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.
Well, considering he scored zero goals in nine La Liga appearances for los Nervionenses, it’s easy to understand why.
In fact, since Ịheanachọ’s most productive scoring season, bagging 19 for Leicester City in the 2020/21 campaign, he has scored just 26 goals across four seasons, of which only 15 have come in the league.
Assuming he debuts against Kilmarnock on Sunday, the 28-year-old will become the third Nigerian to represent Celtic, after centre-back Efe Ambrose, who made 169 appearances, and midfielder Ibrahim Rabiu, who made only two in 2012.
However, it very much remains to be seen if reuniting with Brendan Rodgers can spark Ịheanachọ back into life, so would the Celts actually have been better off keeping hold of a striker you’ve probably completely forgotten about?
Ex-Celtic striker starring in the Championship
Back in January 2019, Celtic signed a certain Vakoun Issouf Bayo from Slovakian side DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda for around £2m and, well, he did not make much an impact in Glasgow.
Nicknamed the Crow, he scored just two goals in 17 appearances in hoops, on target during a 5-0 League Cup demolition of Partick Thistle, as well as tapping home the third when the Bhoys beat Clyde 3-0 in the Scottish Cup, shortly before the pandemic.
Upon his arrival at Parkhead, Bayo stated that he wanted to replicate the form of then first-choice centre-forward Édouard and, well, fair to say he did not achieve this.
Thus, he was loaned out to Toulouse for the 2020/21 season, scoring 13 goals as les Téfécé reached the Ligue 2 play-off final, defeated on away goals by Nantes, but this form convinced Gent to buy him for £1.4m, with Celtic probably happy to recoup the majority of the initial transfer fee paid to sign him in the first place.
After then scoring 14 goals in just 26 outings for another Belgian club, namely Royal Sporting Charleroi, he made his way to Watford, really making a name for himself in Hertfordshire.
Bayo bagged 21 goals for the Hornets, including a stunning overhead kick against Derby at Vicarage Road, as well as netting four times in 30 second-half minutes at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday last November.
He is also now showcasing his talents at international level, scoring the only goal as Côte d’Ivoire beat Burundi in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Abidjan on Friday, set to feature in les Éléphants’ top of the table clash with Gabon on Tuesday too.
At club level, while he’s yet to get off the mark this season, Bayo did start Udinese’s 2-1 victory over Inter Milan at the San Siro before the international break, having joined the Bianconeri, also owned by the Pozzo family, from Watford.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.
So how do his statistics compare to those of Ịheanachọ?
Bayo vs Ịheanachọ 24/25
Statistics
Bayo
Ịheanachọ
Appearances
41
24
Minutes
2,242
1,165
Goals
10
1
Assists
0
2
All statistics below are on a per-90 basis:
Shots
2
1.3
Shots on target
0.9
0.5
Shots on target %
33.9%
18.2%
Goals per shot
0.15
0.03
Conversion rate %
21%
8%
Touches
29.6
34.3
% of touches in the box
13%
9%
Avg Sofascore Rating
6.71
6.65
As the table emphasises, Bayo’s statistics were almost universally more impressive last season, scoring ten EFL Championship goals from an average of less than 30 touches per 90, underlining that he is very much a penalty box poacher.
Ịheanachọ himself was once a fox in the box, mainly during his time with the Foxes, but his powers of began to wane in recent seasons.
Celtic supporters will hope this is just a dip in form, rather than a terminal decline but, when your statistics are worse than those of Bayo, that’s not especially encouraging, is it?