Celtic fans react to Daniel Arzani’s Europa League omission

Manchester City loanee Daniel Arzani will not feature for Neil Lennon’s Celtic in the Europa League group-stages.

Celtic signed Daniel Arzani in the hope that he could be the second coming of Patrick Roberts. Instead, he looks like the new Charly Musonda.

13 months ago, The Hoops signed one of the most exciting attacking talents anywhere in world football – a player who caught the eye of Pep Guardiola and became the youngest player to feature at the 2018 World Cup.

In landing Australian wonderkid and Manchester City superstar-to-be Daniel Arzani on a two-year loan, Celtic appeared to have hit the jackpot. How times have changed.

A cruelly-timed cruciate ligament injury ended his debut season after just two months and even when the 20-year-old makes his long-awaited return, he will find himself behind Mikey Johnston, James Forrest, Lewis Morgan and even Scott Sinclair in the pecking order with a new manager to impress. Brendan Rodgers was the Celtic coach when Arzani arrived; now it’s Neil Lennon.

And the latest blow in the 2018 A-League Young Footballer of the Year’s Celtic career came on Thursday. Arzani has been left out of Celtic’s squad for the Europa League group stage, meaning he will have to sit at home alongside the out-of-favour Jack Hendry and Kouassi Eboue.

If Celtic fans had hoped to see this dazzling forward in action before it’s too late, they may be disappointed.