The midfielder has a lot to live up to at Celtic after Brendan Rodgers’ latest soundbite.
Brendan Rodgers is not the most understated of managers. While many prefer a subtle approach, hiding their true feelings behind a guise of controlled PR speak, the Northern Irishman jumps in two footed, all guns blazing to provide the kind of immortal soundbite that so often has come back to bite him.
Thanks to Rodgers’ trademark hyperbole, Joe Allen will forever remain the ‘Welsh Xavi’, whether sarcastic or genuinely complementary. He also claimed that no one in world football would be more suited to leading Liverpool a matter of weeks before a 6-1 thrashing at Stoke consigned them to a sixth placed finish in 2014/15, per talkSPORT.
Therefore, although it would be easy for Celtic fans to get a little excited after their manager lavished praise upon impending arrival Kouassi Eboue, they may be better served to swallow Rodgers’ comments with a pinch of salt.
“He is one of those young players I look at with the same feeling I had as when I saw a young Coutinho or a young Sterling,” Rodgers said in quotes reported by the Daily Record.
“This boy has that. Within 10 seconds you see his talent. If he arrives on board and everything is good, this is a great chance for him to flourish.”
The 19-year-old is set to complete his £2.8 million transfer from FC Krasnodar in the coming days, per the Daily Record, and Rodgers has certainly ramped up expectations from the off.
Whether Eboue will take them in his stride, buoyed by the confidence shown in him at Celtic Park, or whether he will be cowed under the weight of expectation remains to be seen.
Either way, either eventuality will be attributed to Rodgers and his silver tongued soundbites.
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