I WANT TO HIT START BUTTON AT CELTIC I am not going to hide behind the rest of the squad here at Parkhead
New Bhoy Ajer eager to impress
KRISTOFFER AJER is clear when asked to name his footballing inspiration. The nononsense, combative midfield man who provided the template for his playing style.
‘I am a holding midfielder,’ he said. ‘I have had many role models that I have seen on YouTube, like Patrick Vieira, who was a great player in that position. At Celtic, you have many midfielders who are so good and who I now need to learn from.’
At 6ft 5in, Ajer — rated one of Norway’s brightest prospects — can more than match Vieira’s height. Yet in stature, build and demeanour, the 17-year- old is closer to Nir Bitton. It was easy to conclude yesterday that Celtic have just signed the Israeli international’s long-term replacement.
Where Ajer s t ands in t he Parkhead pecking order for now will be intriguing.
Celtic paid Inverness Caley Thistle £500,000 for Ryan Christie and promptly parked the Scotland Under-21 international on the bench.
Ajer has also played close to 50 games for IK Start in the Norwegian Tippeligaen and was captain of the first team at the age of 16.
The teenager will return home to complete the spring season with his current employers, sit his driving test and continue his schooling.
Come the summer, his father Jan Tore and mother Randi — author of a book detailing her grief at the death of her first husband in a parachute accident at the age of 28 — will move to Glasgow to help their boy settle down.
‘Both my parents are travelling with me and they will stay here for some months,’ revealed Ajer.
‘ I am really thankful for that because it is a big step and I am leaving all of my friends, lots of family — and my girlfriend.
‘She is playing handball for a career and there is no handball here, but that’s OK.
‘Both my parents are bringing their jobs here with them.
‘My father works with taxes and my mother has written a book.
‘She has written it about your life and how you would put things in your life. Like self-help? Yes.
‘My parents have been really important for me.
‘My father was my trainer in my early years and my mother always encouraged me in the football way and the education way.
‘I would not be sitting here at t Celtic without them.’
Currently studying maths in hiss homeland, Ajer will spend hiss first year in Glasgow trying to o acclimatise while distancee learning.
He said: ‘It’s OK. You have a lot t of time when you are not playingg football and I want to feel I have e an education. That’s important.
‘I always wanted to doo something within sports.
‘ Maybe be an expert onn television or something, I don’tt know.
‘First of all, I need to become a professional footballer and that’s s important when I am here at Celtic.’
It helps when the manager shares his first language.
The narrative which suggests that fellow Norwegian Ronny Deila is living on borrowed time in Glasgow is confused by Celtic’s willingness to back him with £500,000 for a teenage prospect. It strikes no one as the act of a club on the verge of doling out a P45.
‘Ronny said Celtic is the perfect club for me to come to,’ added Ajer.
‘It’s possible for me to play here but, of course, he told me I had to prove myself good enough.
‘You have to be good in training and good when you get t he opportunities in matches. Of course I am apartt of the squad.
‘But it’s my choice now whether I want to take the opportunity or I don’t.’
Aj er had other options. Tottenham, Liverpool, Hertha Berlin and Roma were all credited with an interest.
A trial spell in Glasgow during a particularly wet and bleak January
did nothing to alter his gut feeling that Parkh head was the right move at this moment in his career.
‘ There were bi g teams but but, for me, the most important thing was Celtic,’ he insisted.
‘It was the club I wanted to join and being able to do that is just amazing.
‘First of all, Celtic are one of the biggest clubs in the world. You see the fans and you see the atmosphere here in Glasgow.
‘I came to train with the players and everyone was so warm with me. I just felt home here.’
Celtic have tried before to sign heavily-hyped young Norwegian talents.
Martin Odegaard opted, in the end, to join Real Madrid and has endured limited first-team involvement.
Asked if a move to Scotland would offer a more gradual advancement, Ajer was dismissive.
‘I don’t look at Celtic as a middle step,’ he said.
‘I look at Celtic as a really big club. A place where, yeah, I want to play and I see an opportunity here.
‘It’s hard to tell how long it will take me to get into the first team, but I certainly want to play a lot of games.
‘That’s why I came here, to prove myself good enough. I have played 50 matches in t he Premiership back in Norway.
‘I think I am ready to take the step and I will try to get as many matches as possible.’
His recent record hints at a character big enough to deal with life in Glasgow and the game in Scotland.
To be appointed club captain at IK Start so early in his first-team career was both unusual and unprecedented.
If something has to be said at the current Scottish Premiership champions, t he 17- year- old seems the type to speak his mind.
‘I was comfortable as a captain,’ he said.
‘I have always been captain in youth teams and it was a huge experience for me.
‘I was grateful the manager gave me the role.
‘To be honest, I look at myself as a captain whether I have the role or not, because I always scream and demand everything from myself and the rest of the players.
‘I’m not scared of saying: “This is me and this is what I stand for.”
‘Now I have to prove myself good enough. I am not going to hide behind the rest of the squad here.’