Boss aiming to keep Shved at Mechelen
Mechelen boss Wouter Vrancken has revealed he will make an approach to Celtic this week to extend Ukrainian winger Marian Shved’s loan spell into next season.
Shved has enjoyed a fine season in Belgium after initially being criticised by his manager for being too introverted. He’s become a key player for them since then and Mechelen are desperate to bring him back on loan next season, too.
However, Vrancken revealed last month he was struggling to get an answer from Celtic because of their managerial situation.
But he’s going to try again and get the 23-year-old back at the club next term.
He said: “We have two loan players – Marian Shved and Ferdy Druijf – who have told us that they want to stay here next season too.
“So we have to see what Celtic and AZ say about it and try to come to an agreement with them.
“We are hoping to have some news about them both in the coming days.”
Shved admitted last month he was loving life in Belgium after being jolted by criticism from Vrancken.
He said: “When the manager gave that interview, he said some pretty harsh things about me.
“That changed my mentality entirely. It motivated me and suddenly I was determined to make an impact here.
“I trained harder and gained the confidence of the coach. The more playing minutes I got, the smoother the integration went. I felt the respect of my team-mates increase.
“Ukrainians sometimes lack self-confidence and young Ukrainian players like me are sensitive, emotional and easily offended.
“Back home, people come to pat you on the back and ask how it’s going when they see that something is wrong. That does not happen here. But it was up to me to adjust and I have.
“It’s not how you start the season, it’s how you end it that counts.”