Daniel Arzani was one of Celtic’s summer signings, but the winger will not feature in the group-stages of the Europa League this term.
In a summer that took a long time to get going for Celtic, there was little question that the loan deal for Daniel Arzani appeared to be one of the most exciting moves that the Hoops made.
Arzani has been tipped for big things and the fact that Manchester City decided to purchase him before loaning him out immediately certainly hinted that Brendan Rodgers may have pulled off a serious coup getting the winger in for two years.
But with the new season several weeks old, Celtic fans are still awaiting their first glimpse of the Australian – and the supporters would now be forgiven for feeling slightly concerned by the latest news regarding Arzani.
The teenager appeared for the Hoops’ reserves in a recent defeat against Hamilton. The 19-year-old struggled to make an impact as the Bhoys were beaten 3-0 by Accies.
And now the club have confirmed their squad for the group-stages of the Europa League, and there is no place for Arzani amongst the 43 names that Rodgers has included.
There is more than enough time for Arzani to recover from this slow start and leave Celtic at the end of the 2019/20 season as something of a hero. But given what happened with Charly Musonda following his loan move in January, the Hoops fans perhaps have every right to be worried.
Musonda’s arrival was seen as a brilliant deal for Celtic given the amount of interest in him, but he never managed to make an impact and returned to Chelsea well before he was supposed to.
Unlike Musonda, Arzani is yet to feature in the first-team, so it would be incredibly unfair to suggest that his loan spell is going to go the same way. But with the likes of Jonny Hayes and Ryan Christie being included in the Hoops’ Europa League squad, it is perhaps a surprise that Rodgers has not decided to hand Arzani a slot in case he forces his way into the side over the coming weeks.
His omission hints that Rodgers does not expect Arzani to force his way into his plans for the time-being as that would prove somewhat embarrassing if the Manchester City-owned ace did quickly shine domestically but could not be rewarded with a chance in Europe.
That is not to say that the youngster cannot make his time at Celtic a major success, but it does appear that he has possibly not got off to the best start.
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