Wanted in 2014, now shining in Qatar: Celtic missed out on 196-goal “genius” – opinion
Scottish champions Celtic could be regretting their resolution to not signal Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric within the latest previous, with the 31-year-old at present enjoying a central position in his nation’s surge to the final 4 of the World Cup.
Studies again in 2014 steered that the Outdated Agency outfit had moved to signal Serbian marksman Stefan Scepovic forward of Kramaric, with the latter man’s agent notably stating his frustration on the Hoops’ resolution to not comply with by with their curiosity:
“Celtic left us standing outside in the rain. I will never deal with them again.”
That call to plump for the aforementioned Scepovic as an alternative seemingly backfired as the previous Sporting Gijon man went on to attain simply 5 objectives throughout his debut season in Glasgow, earlier than being shipped out on mortgage to Getafe for the next marketing campaign.
Kramaric, in the meantime, would go on to hitch Leicester Metropolis in January 2015 on a £9.7m deal, earlier than the Scottish Premiership facet have been then mentioned to once more be in a deal later that 12 months to prise the rising expertise from the King Energy Stadium.
Nevertheless, that transfer once more did not grow to be a actuality with Ronny Deila and co as an alternative touchdown the likes of Nadir Ciftci and Carlton Cole that summer season, whereas the Foxes gem finally joined Bundesliga facet Hoffenheim on an preliminary mortgage deal in January 2016.
That swoop has since confirmed an actual match made in heaven with the 79-cap marksman having scored 106 objectives and laid on 49 assists in 234 video games in all competitions throughout his time in Germany, taking his general membership profession tally to 196 objectives to this point.
Extra relevantly, nevertheless, the 5 foot 10 striker has just lately caught the attention on account of spectacular type on the worldwide stage in Qatar, with the in-form “genius” – as beforehand described by commentator Derek Rae – having lead the road beautifully for the 2018 finalists.
The £47k-per-week man has scored twice in his 5 outings on the match to this point – all of which have come from the beginning – having posed a potent menace in his centre-forward berth after averaging 1.8 pictures per recreation up to now.
The striker’s two objectives got here within the 4-1 drubbing of Canada within the second group recreation, having proven outstanding, ‘ice-cool composure‘ – within the phrases of 90min’s Chris Smith – to twice slot dwelling in opposition to John Herdman’s males.
The one-time Dinamo Zagreb ace – who boasts a median match ranking of 6.82, as per Sofascore – has additionally impressed on account of his hold-up play and talent to maintain possession for his facet regardless of developing in opposition to elite opposition, with that illustrated by his spectacular go accuracy charge of 89%.
It might properly be that Kramaric goes on to assist steer his facet to World Cup glory by the top of this week, with these again at Celtic Park left to replicate upon a notable missed alternative all these years in the past.