Adam Idah shouldn’t be judged by his price tag. He’s earned our full backing

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The Celtic Star

·30 January 2025

Adam Idah shouldn’t be judged by his price tag. He’s earned our full backing

With Kyogo now departed to pastures new, signing a deal with French club Rennes, the main striker role against Aston Villa was filled by Irishman Adam Idah on a night where I just had the feeling he was going to prove a point…

Adam Idah of Celtic is challenged by Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa FC and Celtic FC at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

I have been defending Adam Idah all season even though I would be the first to admit he hasn’t been in great form during this campaign. The reason I have felt compelled to defend the former Norwich City man is because we know what he can produce, he was an integral part of our success in the second half of last season and I feel like a lot of people have short memories when it comes to Idah.

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Norwich’s third choice striker

Idah arrived last January and received an underwhelming response from the fans, although it wasn’t anything to do with the player himself, as most wouldn’t have been overly familiar with the Irish international.

When we were all desperate for Celtic to sign a top striker to challenge Kyogo, seeing Celtic bring in what at the time was Norwich’s third choice striker didn’t exactly set the heather on fire so the reaction to him wasn’t surprising.

Adam Idah scores Celtic’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025 (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

It didn’t take him long however to win over the fans, as during a period when we were still engulfed in a title battle with our neighbours from across the city, it was Idah who stood up time and time again scoring hugely important goals and showing the mindset required to be a Celtic player.

Idah bagged Scottish Cup final winner against theRangers

The season ended with Idah bagging the winner in the Scottish Cup final against theRangers which left most of us hoping that Celtic could do a deal with Norwich to bring the striker in permanently. I feel like the tide turned when it was revealed Celtic had paid upwards of £9m for the striker. Many felt we had over paid yet some of the same people complained about the club not loosening the purse strings earlier in the summer. The price tag has absolutely nothing to do with Idah and he shouldn’t be judged on it.

Adam Idah scores his team’s first goal past Emiliano Martinez during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

I feel like Adam Idah is a confidence player, and like many strikers if he goes on a run of games without scoring it affects him badly. I felt like he just needed a big goal this season to get him firing on all cylinders again and thought that his vital ‘goal’ against BSC Young Boys would be the thing that would spark his season into life and it looks like it did.

Idah was excellent against Aston Villa

I thought Idah was excellent against Aston Villa last night, not only did he score two excellent goals but he wasn’t shy in getting physical with the Aston Villa defence, often out muscling the opposition which is something I thought he maybe wasn’t utilising to the best of his abilities before.

Adam Idah scores Celtic’s second goal past Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

As I said earlier I think his high price tag is something that has maybe led to people questioning his overall contribution but I also think many have been too easily lead by negativity towards him in the media and from fans of theRangers, who like to remind Celtic fans about how much they paid for him.

They absolutely despise the fact

They absolutely despise the fact that we can afford to bring such players in and will do anything to try and discredit the player. They also tried the same with Arne Engels who is starting to show that he will end up being worth every penny.

I think it is vital that we bring in another high level striker to replace Kyogo as it is imperative that a club like ours has two top strikers battling it out for a starting berth. I wouldn’t rule out whoever does come in having a fight on his hands in trying to be the man Brendan Rodgers regards as his first choice. Adam Idah at 23 is still young and doesn’t have many miles on the clock so there is still plenty of scope for improvement.

Negativity from the mainstream media

I’m sure if news came out that we were interested in a striker who had just scored a double in his last Champions League game against English opposition we would be crying out for Celtic to sign him up, so let’s not let negativity from the mainstream media and opposition fans taint our opinion of a player who has showed he’s more than capable of turning up on the big occasions and doing a job for Celtic.

Aston Villa v Celtic Champions League 29/01/2025. GOAL scores 2-1 Celtic forward Adam Idah 9 scores and celebrates with Celtic defender Liam Scales 5 during the Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on 29 January 2025. Photo Manjit Narotra

Role in OG in Young Boys game crucial in Celtic’s qualification

Another final point I would like to add, if it wasn’t for Idah’s contribution to the goal against BSC Young Boys that claimed all three points then we wouldn’t have qualified for the playoff rounds which netted the club a few more Million pounds to our overall prize pot. He is already paying the club back for the money spent on him. So let’s give Adam Idah our full backing and stop listening to the negativity coming from people who hate nothing more than seeing Celtic players succeed.

Conall McGinty

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