'Money down the drain' - The curious case of major £5m Celtic flop bombed out of first-team picture
The Hoops attacker has made little impact and failed to live up to his price tag since arriving from Belgian club Royal Antwerp last summer
Pat Bonner has taken a critical view of Celtic’s recruitment this season as he highlighted the curious case of forgotten £5m summer signing Michel Ange-Balikwisha, who has failed to make any sort of impact during his time in Glasgow.
The Scottish champions crashed out of the Europa League last night following a 4-2 aggregate knockout play-off defeat to Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart, despite a much-improved performance and 1-0 win during the second leg in Germany.
However, it was a case of too little too late for the Hoops after giving themselves a mountain to climb following last week’s 4-1 first-leg defeat. And legendary former Celtic goalkeeper Bonner believes Martin O’Neill’s side only have themselves to blame.
Bonner has been left questioning the calibre of player his old club have recruited this term, insisting they have fallen short of the level required so far. And the continued absence of expensive flop signing Balikwisha has been raised as a prime example of “money down the drain.”
Speaking on BBC Sportsound, Bonner said: “In general, the club needs to be thinking more towards the future. Celtic reportedly had £100m in the bank. If you go into the [transfer] market down in England, that’s two players at the top level between wages, fees etc.
“There’s no guarantee those two players, if you got them for that money, are going to be successful. There’s no guarantee. Celtic are shopping in a completely different type of market and at their level, they have to be able to spend in and around £15-20m. And then you’re asking the question, you have to be really clever at picking up players who are going to make an impact.
Why has Michel-Ange Balikwisha been frozen out of first-team picture?
Bonner continued: “You’ve just got to look at Balikwisha, a player Celtic had been chasing before last summer’s transfer window. You eventually bring him in and he’s nowhere to be seen now. Is that down to quality? Is that down to the player himself? Maybe he’s been unlucky. I don’t think that’s the case.
“He’s been given a decent chance to stake his claim, but he’s out of the picture completely now and that’s down to a couple of managers making that decision. These weren’t the managers who brought him in.
“But he’s not even in the matchday squads now. When you see young players, 17 and 18 in the squad and he’s not there, is that money down the drain? Are they really going to get anything for him in the future if they were going to move him on? Probably not at this stage. So that is money down the drain and that annoys the fans a little bit as well.
“Then you look at the rest of the loan players coming in, you’ve got to ask ‘are they making an impact that you would really like them to make?’ Especially the ones brought in during the January window. So all of those things are still there.
“But Martin O’Neill is the manager and he has to get the best out of the players. He’s got to try to present every game that he’s in charge of in a positive light. That’s his job. He needs to pick out the positives and try to gee up the players, fans and the club in general.”
Is there a way back for Michel-Ange Balikwisha at Celtic?
Signed from Belgian outfit Royal Antwerp last August after a prolonged wait for his signature, supporters were expecting big things from Balikwisha upon his arrival.
The DR Congo international had been scouted for the best part of 18 months prior to eventually putting pen to paper on a five-year contract. But he hasn’t come close to living up to his hype or price tag, having struggled to grasp his opportunity to impress when given a rare chance.
Balikwisha has managed just 18 appearances for Celtic, 12 of them coming off the bench. He has rarely been sighted of late since returning from an underwhelming Africa Cup of Nations campaign. His last outing was back in mid-January during a 2-0 Scottish Cup win over sixth-tier Auchinleck Talbot.
Written off many fans already as another one of axed recruitment chief Paul Tisdale misfires, it’s difficult to see a way back for Balikwisha, even at such an early stage in his Parkhead career.