It may surprise you to learn that Ange Postecoglou’s very own ‘walking, talking yellow card’ hasn’t actually accumulated all that many yellow cards in Celtic colours.
Across his last 40 games for the Scottish Premiership challengers, Ismaila Soro has entered the referee’s notebook on just seven occasions.
Sometimes, however, the eye test tells you more than statistics and spreadsheets ever could.
And when Soro isn’t toeing the line, he’s throwing himself across it with reckless abandon.
Is Ismaila Soro heading out of Celtic?
But while Soro certainly shares a few similarities with Chelsea’s World Cup winning talisman, what he lacks is Kante’s impeccable timing.
So often a second or two late when crashing into one of those trademark bone-crunching tackles; you get the feeling that Soro probably doesn’t celebrate Christmas Day until Boxing Day.
His blood-and-thunder, take-no-prisoners approach isn’t exactly tailor-made for the swaggering stylings of Ange-ball either.
Postecoglou wants his chosen number six to be a dictator than a destroyer, someone capable of starting attacks as well as stopping them; Callum McGregor being the prime example.
Soro hasn’t made a single Premiership appearance since the 1-1 draw with Dundee United in September. His performances in the Europa League group-stages haven’t exactly set the world alight either.
And, with the arrival of Yosuke Ideguchi pushing him even furhter down Postecoglou’s pecking order, The Sun claims that Soro has been made available for transfer.
A reunion with Patryk Klimala, who joined in the same Janaury 2020 transfer window, at MLS outfit New York Red Bulls is on the cards.
But how do the Celtic supporters feel about Soro’s impending departure? Somewhat conflicted, it seems.
There’s a player in there somewhere, a good one too. And it remains a frustration that Postecoglou – a coach who has transformed the likes of Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor – could not get more out of a man with so much potential but more rough edges than a rusty chainsaw.
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