Competition for places a ‘ joy’

PERHAPS it wasn’t only the timing of his goal in Riga and the importance of it to Celtic in terms of their Europa League ambitions that put such a smile on Mohamed Elyounoussi’s face last Thursday night. Seizing his own opportunity to impress after kicking his heels on the bench may turn out to be just as vital on a personal level.

The winger is far from put out that the competition in the Celtic squad means that there are few who can regard themselves as certainties to be on Neil Lennon’s teamsheet though. Instead, he is just glad he isn’t the man in the hotseat charged with choosing between such a wealth of talent.

“It is a joy for me [ to play with such good players],”

Elyounoussi said. “Absolutely. But, I am also happy I am not the manager having to pick the starting XI. We have so many talents and great players.

“You look at the players he can bring in and there is a lot of quality there. In the end we are going to need the whole squad for the games we’ll face this season.

“It will be a massive season for us. It’s nice to have so many good players – and it is also healthy competition.”

One player who has only recently been added to that mix, but is starting to make quite the impression, is new arrival David Turnbull.

The midfielder set up Elyounoussi for a goal against Hibernian on Sunday, and the Norwegian thinks there is so much more to come from the former Motherwell man. “I didn’t know David much from before,” he said. “But since he came in for training the first time he has looked good. He has this view in front of him, he knows where the other players are and what there movements can be like. You saw that on Sunday with my goal.”