Albian Ajeti has vowed, via The Scottish Sun, to seize his second chance to impress at Celtic under Ange Postecoglou, having flopped on the back of his transfer from West Ham.
The Hoops paid £5m for Ajeti and awarded the forward a four-year contract to the delight of then-manager Neil Lennon last summer. And he kicked off the season strongly with five goals in his first six Premiership appearances, while offering an assist.
But the Swiss forward’s Parkhead stay took a rapid downward spiral after that, costing him a place at Euro 2020. The 24-year-old only found the net once in his following 13 Premiership outings and failed to score in any cup.
Ajeti also only started 13 of his 31 outings across all competitions for Celtic last season. And he ended the campaign often as an unused substitute under interim boss John Kennedy. But Postecoglou has handed the attacker a clean slate to start fresh next term.
The Greek coach also handed Ajeti the captain’s armband for Celtic’s midweek friendly with Sheffield Wednesday. And the £16,000-per-week attacker believes he has the talent to now make an impact and change perceptions at Parkhead under Postecoglou next season.
“Absolutely. It was a difficult season – not just for me, for everyone,” Ajeti said. “I’m looking forward now to focusing myself on the new season. We will try to reach the goals as a club.
“First of all, we want to be back on top at the end of the season. That’s our main target as a club. Personally, I want to help the team as much as I can to reach that goal.”
Ajeti must fulfil Postecoglou promise for Celtic
Ajeti must fulfil his promise to Postecoglou and deliver a better season at Celtic now he has a clean slate. It was a disastrous debut campaign at Parkhead for the 11-cap international, who showed a lot of promise at first.
Postecoglou will be delighted to have a player like Ajeti at his disposal if he can rediscover that initial form. Missing out on a place at Euro 2020 should have also lit a fire under the Hoops forward to turn back time and be the sort of player that managers cannot drop.
Too often last season he struggled to grow into games or make an impact from the bench. But he’s started the new campaign well with a goal against Sheffield Wednesday in this week’s friendly. And Postecoglou will hope that it is the start of many more to come.
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