£4m striker hasn’t played a minute since he was denied Celtic transfer

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As Callum McGregor glanced up, spotted the run of Kyogo Furuhashi and floated a stunning through ball onto the head of the onrushing Japanese international, Sydney van Hooijdonk could have been forgiven for wishing it was he, instead, on the end of those stunning Celtic passes. 

According to Il Resto del Carlino, the Scottish Premiership champions looked into bringing the son of former Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk to Glasgow during the final few days of the summer window. 

Bologna, however, got cold feet about letting Sydney go, on the back of a 19-goal loan spell at Heerenveen. And while Rossoblu coach Thiago Motta insists that opportunities will come the Dutchman’s way this term, actions speak louder than words. 

And Motta’s recent actions suggest that Van Hooijdonk – after being omitted from Bologna’s pre-season plans – is going to have to make himself comfortable on the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara bench. 

Celtic miss out on Sydney van Hooijdonk

“We made a wonderful transfer window,” Motta said a few weeks ago. “Because we got what we wanted we wanted with our possibilities.

“Today, we have Joshua (Zirkzee) in front, we have Sydney and Musa Barrow. Now that the transfer market is over, we have to sort out all these situations.

“We have him (Barrow) and Van Hooijdonk, who will have to do their job with great personality and professionalism.”

Since Motta made those comments in early September, however, Van Hooijdonk has not featured even once, either in Serie A or the Coppa Italia. He was even left out of the squad entirely for a 2-1 win over Cagliari. In fact, since returning to Italy from Heerenveen, Van Hooijdonk has played a grand total of three minutes of football. 

Motta may be pleased to still have the broad-shouldered targetman at his disposal, but it feels unlikely the player himself will be quite so impressed with how things have worked out, especially with Celtic – Kyogo, McGregor and all – prepare for their Champions League opener away at Feyenoord in midweek.