When John Guidetti came in on the last day of the summer transfer window last year I was thrilled with Celtic’s newest acquisition even if it was just on-loan.
John had a fairly good reputation coming into the club, he got glowing reports from our friends over in Feynoord who had previously seen the Swede hit the goal trail for their club on-loan.
Due to injuries and competition for places he has never broke into Man City’s first team but there is no doubt the player has ability.
He came in and was a breath of fresh air to the club, after suffering Teemu Pukki and Amido Balde the previous season it seemed like night and day as the big striker starting banging in goals for fun when he got here. He was quickly hailed as Celtic’s newest hero, some maybe going over the top which is understandable since we hadn’t had a consistent goal scorer since Gary Hooper.
While the 22-year-olds Celtic record reads 11 goals in 21 appearances he hasn’t found the net in 4 months. You can contribute that to maybe the players fitness not being there as he had been side-lined for so long the previous season, he has also had to come on from the bench on several occasions due to his drop in form.
So do we really have a player or is he just a flash in the plan?
He has all the qualities to be a top striker in my opinion and he has an infectious personality that you can see rubs off on his fellow teammates. Some of the goals he has scored have been nothing short of sensational. However his inability to score since November is a big cause for concern. Part of me thinks he hasn’t took the Scottish League as seriously as maybe he should have. After scoring so many early on, he must have thought this league was an absolute ‘skoosh’ but has found out since you need to work to earn your goals and position in the team. He now sits behind Leigh Griffiths in the pecking order who seems to be responding positively to Ronny Deila’s methods after previously being overlooked.
John and his representatives were in talks with Celtic about a permanent deal earlier this season but they chose to cool talks until the end of the season. This translates to me as he will maybe sign for us if nothing better comes along. I’m not knocking him for that view, he is 22 and injury prone, he will be of the mind-set he needs to make as much money as he can in his career. He certainly wouldn’t be doing that at Celtic who can only offer a pittance in comparison to other European sides.
I think we will see John hit the goal trail again in the coming weeks. With so many games coming thick and fast he will start his fair share of matches. As for being a new Celtic hero, I just don’t think so. I think he will leave at the end of the season, hopefully with a few medals to his name and some fond memories.
