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SBI View: Teaming up with Rodgers, Celtic could provide big boost for Timothy Weah

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Timothy Weah’s time with Paris Saint-Germain may not come as immediately as the 18-year-old would like. Despite the forward’s talent and energy, starting over the likes of Edinson Cavani, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar is too much to ask at this point in his career.

Weah confirmed on Christmas Day that he would head out on loan this January from the Ligue 1 giants, a move he needs to make in order to earn more first-team minutes. In the past, Weah had been linked to fellow French top-flight sides, such as Amiens and Strasbourg, but of late it looks like Weah will be taking his talents to Scotland.

Glasgow giants and seven-time defending league champs Celtic have been linked with the U.S. Men’s National Team forward, and if that move becomes a reality it would be a match made in heaven for both parties.

Celtic has given the opportunity to several promising young players over the past few seasons, with Patrick Roberts, Moussa Dembele, and Scott Sinclair all seeing their play improve under Brendan Rodgers. All three players starred in Rodgers’ first season in charge at Celtic Park in 2016, combining for 47 goals and 22 assists. Even though Dembele was recently sold to Lyon and Roberts was not brought back from Manchester City, Sinclair has continued to be a bright spot for the Hoops.

For Weah, the opportunity to earn minutes will be available due to Celtic’s lack of depth at forward. Veteran Leigh Griffiths is currently out due to non-football reasons, while Odsonne Edouard has been the team’s only consistent option up top. Weah’s versatility could pose problems for several teams in the SPFL, with him being used as a second forward or on the wing.

Also, the opportunity to work with an experienced manager like Rodgers could also bode well for Weah. Rodgers has worked with several talented players in the past, with Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling, and Jordan Henderson all being regulars for their respective National Teams.

A strong second half of the season for Weah could very well see Celtic interested in retaining the forward long-term. It may not be the glitz and glamour of Ligue 1 or playing in Paris, but it will give Weah consistent opportunities to grow as a player and get him prepared for future call-ins with the USMNT.

Fellow USMNT midfielder Emerson Hyndman is the most recent example of a player using Scotland to improve his game. An impressive stint with Rangers allowed Hyndman to return to Scotland this fall with Hibernian where he has been a starter under Neil Lennon.

Weah’s ability could surely help a side like PSG in the future, but for now a move to Celtic is one that will benefit both clubs and the player immediately.

Comments

  1. Shaq Moore’s loan has reportedly been canceled by La Liga due to payment issues by Reus. This appears tied to the issues at the beginning of the season that saw Moore and other Reus signings unavailable for the first few matches. Too soon to tell if he will return to Levante or go out on loan, but lower division sides have apparently expressed interest.

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  2. Di Maria and Cavani are 30 or older, Neymar is constantly putting out rumors that he wants out. Choupo-Moting that was brought in to provide a veteran off the bench will be 30 in March. Also, Mbappe will probably be moved when the others vacate, so there will be minutes available for PSG if not next season then in the following. Go gain some experience with a well-known club that is fighting for a title, with an experienced manager, that has good facilities.

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    • They will sell one of Mbappe or Neymar, probably the non-French player, not both, which would be suicidal. The older players might age out but your analysis overlooks that PSG, like CFC, can simply get the checkbook out to fill those holes. If they really believed Weah was the successor to the position he would be incrementally given more responsibility as they prepared for his stepping up, not loaned out. Loaned out means they don’t see a near term first team role and are playing for time/ preserving the asset. But let’s just happily pretend Big Club won’t just buy replacements and are loaning him because they secretly love him.

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      • PSG is going for a CL title this season, they weren’t going to risk having an 18-year-old with 4 matches of experience as their back up to their forward core so they signed Choupo Moting who had played for Tuchel previously. PSG will sell both Mbappe and Neymar if they ask that’s what the rest of the world does, now they will certainly use that hefty payday to bring in some established talent, but if Weah proves himself by scoring goals for Celtic they will gladly use that money at other positions. You seem to also be overlooking that PSG has been under scrutiny of late for their transfer spending and probably can’t spend what they have in recent years.

  3. jokes aside, PSG, like CFC, is content to simply buy their lineup. if Weah isn’t in the next few years’ plans he might as well go someplace else where he stands a chance of starting and flourishing. that is not PSG and a bunch of “Miazga” type loans unless PSG sees him starting next year and just needs a place to keep him for a few months. i don’t think that’s what PSG sees or he’d be starting so take the hint. he doesn’t need a new team and new coach every year on loan. what he needs is a firm foothold and a coach who wants to use him. a full transfer.

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  4. More to the point: Celtic need goals. They’re under threat from numerous teams this season, including the hated Rangers. They were not even top of the table until Christmas. SPL is much more competitive this year than it has been, and Celtic can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

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    • You don’t get a new contract when you go out on loan. Celtic may be covering part of it or PSG may still take care of all of it since it likely isn’t very large given his experience and production.

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  5. He’s 18, first team mins are priorities. He will play Europa league games, this is only for 6 months then maybe next year bigger team in bigger league

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    • Remember the good old days, when we didn’t expect our 18-year-olds to be getting top-flight minutes. Oh yeah, it was three years ago before Pulisic.

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      • Pulisic is about to get sold out because they’d rather go with Sancho. A Big Club sinecure can often be a small ledge of a platform. It’s nice while it lasts and I think we could do worse than have players sign there as teens. But if you’re not in the plans get out or you turn into Zelalem or Hyndman, spinning your wheels at 23 while the next classes of Next Big Thing pass you by.

      • I know, the bar was set pretty high. Some people can’t understand that not all players just move straight through academies to first team at such a young age. If it takes him till he’s 21 or 22 to finally break through at PSG then he still ahead of 80% of American players

    • Imperative–Dortmund may very well sell Sancho rather than Pulisic. As with Dembele, they can probably get really big bucks for Sancho, only from an EPL club instead of Barcelona. Dortmund is already loaded in the midfield and they could use the money from Sancho to buy 2 or 3 very serviceable players for positions of greater need. While Sancho is better than Pulisic I don’t think there is much of a drop off from Dortmund’s standpoint if they play the American instead of the Englishman. Dortmund seems to be good at selling good players like Dembele and finding diamonds in the rough like Alcacer improving their team overall while also improving their bottom line.

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      • I agree with u, I like sancho and think he is a good player but every time I watch him he is prone to so many bad passes and giveaways on the dribble and that seems to be overlooked for a few impressive dribbles that make defenders look bad. I wish they were on the pitch together rather than Bruun Larsen out there. Johnnyrazor your good with stats what is his dribble completion and passer percentages compared to CP

      • Pulisic 79.3 JBL 78.7 pass success %
        Pulisic 1.7. JBL 0.9 dribbles per game

        Of course Pulisic also has more dispossessed and more unsuccessful touches.

        Bruno Larson also has slightly better defense but neither are on the field for defense.

        These stats were from Whoscored, both JBL and CP are very similarly rated you have to assume Favre doesn’t rate CP as a left side player since a vast majority of Pulisic’s minutes are on the right.

  6. But if he’s not at PSG we can’t develop truly great players (who pick up splinters at the world’s greatest clubs).

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  7. At first glance, a loan to the SPL seems kinda “oh no!”

    However, given that it’s Celtic and Rodgers is a pretty good developmental manager, it actually could turn out to be the best situation Weah could have hoped for.

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