The on-loan Crystal Palace midfielder is already under scrutiny at Reading – luckily for Celtic, they didn’t pay £2.5 million for him.
Celtic may not be quite as strapped for cash as the rest of the Scottish Premiership but that does not mean that they could simply laugh off paying £2.5 million, plus £35,000-a-week in wages, for Jordon Mutch, as reported by the Daily Record.
After all, this is a player who has struggled to find any kind of consistency since exploding onto the Premier League scene in an otherwise below-par Cardiff City since in 2013/14, his penchant for long-range stunners and lung-bursting forward runs drawing albeit questionable comparisons with a certain Yaya Toure. Honestly.
The trail soon went dead, however, and, in hindsight, Celtic look to have made the right decision allowing Reading to sign the midfielder unopposed on a loan deal until the end of the season in January.
After a well-taken goal on his debut against Ipswich Town, Mutch has fallen well below expectation levels at the Madejski. Four appearances, and just one win, later, a number of Reading supporters are already demanding Jaap Stam drop the Crystal Palace loanee from the starting XI.
If there’s one word that crops up when scrolling through social media criticism of the 25-year-old’s performances it’s ‘anonymous’. The 3-0 defeat at Brighton appears the nadir but, even as Reading held Newcastle to a goalless draw on Tuesday, Mutch still managed to stand out for all the wrong reasons.
Brendan Rodgers hasn’t made too many bad decisions since joining Celtic. And not signing Mutch appears to be another correct call.
What does Mutch bring to this team that Swifty doesn’t? Genuine question. He’s really vanilla. #readingfc
— george (@TalkMurtyToMe) February 25, 2017
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