JUST IN: CELTIC IN TALKS TO LAND £2.4M STRIKER AND HE’S SCORED WORLD CLASS STRIKER AS HE HIS
Josh Maja, last season’s 17-goal top scorer, was always going to be a difficult man to replace, especially after Bordeaux missed out on promotion back to France’s top tier.
But, still, far more was expected of the striker who eventually stepped into Maja’s shoes, the Ligue 2 outfit snapping up Zan Vipotnik in a £2.4 million deal despite interest from, amongst others, the champions of Scotland.
“Yes, there is interest from Celtic for a summer transfer,” Vipotnik’s agent, Sasa Zupan, told Football Scotland at the beginning of the window. “But there a lot of clubs who want to sign Zan when the window opens.”
Vipotnik scored 23 times for Slovenian outfit Maribor in 2022/23. So while he deserves the benefit of the doubt – he is far from the first player to endure a sluggish start in a new league and at a new club – a tally of one goal in his first seven Bordeaux appearances remains a highly disappointing return.
Celtic wanted Zan Vipotnik
Les Girondins coach David Guion, when asked about his misfiring frontline on Thursday, insisted that the blame should lie solely on his own shoulders.
“As much as you can point the finger at me, criticise me, don’t count on me to criticize my players in front of everyone,” Guion tells Girondins4Eva. “If I need to tell them things – and, believe me, I tell them – it’s in my office, face to face.
“This is a purely collective problem. I really don’t want to target any players. If (we) put in the right cross, maybe Vipi (Vipotnik) will be there to receive them.”
Did Celtic dodge a bullet?
Clearly, in Guion’s opinion, the problem is not an individual one but a collective one. Asking Vipotnik to emulate last term’s 23-goal tally without quality service is almost like asking Gordon Ramsey to cook up a Michelin star meal with ingredients found in your local Farmfoods.
Then again, the fact that Vipotnik has only played 25 minutes in Bordeaux’s last two games – after starting the season in the XI – suggests that the one-time Celtic target has plenty to work on himself as he looks to repay Bordeaux’s faith.
Not to mention that £2.4 million transfer fee.
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