Celtic duo Eboue Kouassi and Vakoun Issouf Bayo know each other from the international scene.
Vakoun Issouf Bayo has revealed to The Record that a certain Eboue Kouassi sold life as a Celtic player to him.
Bayo is Celtic’s only permanent signing of the January transfer window so far after the Scottish Premiership champions spent £2 million on bringing him in from Dunajska Streda in Slovakia.
The 22-year-old striker knows Kouassi – who was ruled out for the season a number of months ago – from the Ivory Coast set-up, and the Hoops new man reveals that his international colleague recommended life at Parkhead, describing the players as a ‘really good group’.
He told The Record: “I have actually watched a lot of Celtic since Eboue signed because we are really good friends.
“He’s a good player – you don’t sign for Celtic if you’re not – but injury is the big enemy of any professional.
“He encouraged me to come here. Although he’s not playing right now and doing a lot of rehab on his knee we have had quite a lot of exchanges on the phone. I asked him about the team and he said it was a really good group.”
Bayo will hope to have a bigger impact at Celtic than his compatriot so far.
Kouassi joined the Bhoys for £3 million from Krasnodar two years ago [The Scottish Sun], but has only managed 12 Premiership appearances under Brendan Rodgers since then.
Injury hasn’t helped his cause this season, but even then he was on the periphery of Rodgers’s first XI.
The Northern Irishman will be itching to try Bayo out as soon as possible, having scored 18 times in 23 Slovakian top-flight games.
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