Celtic’s treble chase under Brendan Rodgers continues.
Last weekend, the Hoops battled past Hibernian in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, prevailing 2-0 at Parkhead, with Daizen Maeda breaking the deadlock from close range on the cusp of half time, before Adam Idah secured victory in stoppage time.
Rodgers’ side will now face St Johnstone at Hampden on Easter weekend, with Aberdeen and Heart of Midlothian set to contest the other semi-final.
In order to keep their treble-chase at full kilter, they will need Nicolas Kühn at his best…
Nicolas Kühn rise to prominence at Celtic
Kühn has, unquestionably, been one of Celtic’s best players this season.
The 25-year-old has scored 18 goals and provided 13 assists in all competitions during this campaign, his tally of 17 goal involvements second only to teammate Maeda in this season’s Premiership.
He also scored three times in the Champions League, all coming against Bundesliga clubs that used to employ him, bagging a brace during the famous home victory over RB Leipzig, before slotting home the opener against Bayern Munich.
However, it wasn’t always this way for Kühn.
He arrived in January last year from Rapid Wien, costing a reported fee of £3m, but made little impact during his first six months in Glasgow, scoring only three goals in 18 appearances.
It has subsequently come to light that the German had been dealing with dental issues, which had prevented him from eating solid food, thereby losing ‘more than a stone’ in weight in a very short period of time, now able to show his best.
However, the Hoops were forced to sell their original Kuhn for £10m almost exactly a year ago. Will they regret that decision? Perhaps not given the amount of profit they struck gold on.
Former Celtic winger impressing stateside
For many Celtic supporters, the 2021/22 season is their favourite of modern times; coming out of lockdown, led by Ange Postecoglou, a manager no one had ever heard of, an almost entirely new team were able to wrestle the title back from Rangers, having finished 25 points adrift the year before.
Liel Abada’s contribution to that triumph will never be forgotten.
As part of Postecoglou’s first summer overhaul, the Israeli winger arrived from Maccabi Petah Tikva for a reported fee of £3.5m, making an immediate impression, scoring 39 minutes into his debut, doing so in a Champions League qualifier against Midtjylland.
In total, Abada scored 29 times in hoops, cementing his popularity by bagging three Old Firm goals, on target during the most famous Glasgow derby victory for many decades, a 3-0 demolition in February 2022, with journalist John McGinley describing his displays as ‘excellent’.
However, things rather soured from there.
In September 2023, during a Euro qualifier against Belarus in Tel Aviv, Abada suffered a thigh injury that would sideline him for four months.
A month later, the Israel–Hamas war severely escalated, starting with the attacks on 7 October 2023, which is significant because Celtic’s largest ultras supporters group, the Green Brigade, are very openly pro-Palestine, and have been for around a decade.
While no one ever attacked, blamed or criticised Abada personally, the fact Nir Bitton made 271 appearances for Celtic across a decade shows fans are not against Israeli players, the winger was reportedly uncomfortable with the situation, so requested to leave.
With the European transfer window closed at this point, Abada moved to Charlotte FC in Major League Soccer last March for a reported £10m, and has been impressing in North Carolina.
The 23-year-old scored seven goals in 24 appearances last season as Dean Smith’s side finished fifth in the Eastern Conference, while Graham Ruthven of Total Soccer Show believes he is one of the most ‘dangerous’ forwards in MLS. So, let’s analyse how Abada compares to Kühn.
Appearances
112
30
59
Minutes
5,947
2,027
3,772
Goals
29
7
21
Minutes per goal
205
290
180
Assists
22
2
16
Big chances created
29
8
18
Dribble success %
41.5%
44.2%
51.5%
As the table outlines, Abada scored eight more goals for Celtic than Kühn has managed, albeit admittedly doing so in 53 more matches.
The Irsraeli’s subsequent exploits stateside have to be taken seriously considering, according to Global Football Rankings, MLS is the ninth-strongest league in the world, while the Scottish Premiership is down in 43rd place.
So, of course, Celtic supporters are pleased with Kühn’s exploits, but just imagine how good Abada could’ve been in this team, had circumstances not gone the way they did.
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