Celtic legend Peter Grant feels that the Scottish Premiership champions might have been spooked by Sydney van Hooijdonk’s lack of game time when opting to bring in Adam Idah instead on transfer deadline day.
Ironically enough, Idah’s arrival at Parkhead opened the door for a man who had been linked frequently with a move to Celtic over the last six months to take his place at Carrow Road.
Out went the Republic of Ireland international – moving north of the border on a temporary deal – and in came Sydney van Hooijdonk, filling the spot vacated by Idah’s rather unexpected, out-of-the-blue and into-the-green switch to Brendan Rodgers’ league leaders.
And Peter Grant, who won two Scottish Premiership titles in the 1980s, feels that Celtic’s decision to go for Idah rather than Van Hooijdonk owed much to the fact that the latter had barely started a single game during the first half of the season at Bologna.
Celtic linked Van Hooijdonk joins Norwich City
“Celtic are probably looking at it and thinking ‘he hasn’t played enough games’,” Grant tells Go Radio.
Van Hooijdonk, the son of one-time Hoops hitman Pierre van Hooijdonk, proved himself to be a prolfic goalscorer in the Netherlands, netting 19 times on loan at Heerenveen in 2022/23.
At Bologna, however, the broad-shouldered Dutchman slipped behind Joshua Zirkzee in Thiago Motta’s pecking order. There is no shame in that, of course. Zirkzee, now linked with a £42 million move to Manchester United, is rapidly emerging as one of Europe’s most coveted young forwards after all.
Idah arrives at Celtic instead, meanwhile, having featured nearly 30 times for Norwich in England’s second tier between August and February, even if he too has found starts hard to come by at times.
Hoops sign Adam Idah
“I’m delighted,” the pacey, hard-running Idah – who will wear Celtic’s number nine shirt – tells the club’s official website. “I’m so happy to be here.
‘It was a no brainer. I’ve always said I wanted to play for Celtic. It’s such a big club and the gaffer here, the history he’s got is amazing, and him developing all these young players, I think it will suit me to a T, so I’m very excited.”
Van Hooijdonk, like Idah, moves on an initial loan deal, albeit one which can be made permanent in the summer. Reports indicate the former has a £5 million release clause in his Bologna contract.
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