Celtic: Postecoglou could repeat Jota masterclass with move for Ghaedi | OneFootball

While Ange Postecoglou’s career as Celtic manager got off to something of a shaky start, with the Bhoys losing both their Champions League qualifying tie against FC Midtjylland and their opening Premiership match against Hearts under the management of the 56-year-old, things have improved 10-fold for the Greek-Australian coach and his side in recent months.

Indeed, Celtic now find themselves on a run of 11 league fixtures without suffering defeat, as well as having turned in a number of extremely impressive performances in the Europa League – including back to back wins over Ferencvaros and a 3-2 victory against Real Betis – despite their ultimate third-place finish in Group G.

Furthermore, a number of Postecoglou’s summer signings have also started to really find their feet in Glasgow, with Benfica loanee Jota having scored eight goals and provided six assists over his 18 appearances for the Hoops, Kyogo Furuhashi bagging 14 goals and five assists over his 24 outings for the Bhoys and centre-back duo Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt averaging extremely impressive SofaScore match ratings of 7.47 and 7.30 in the league respectively.

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And, with the January transfer window just around the corner, Celtic are once again being linked with a growing list of players this winter, particularly from what could perhaps be considered as lesser-known leagues – such as the Bhoys’ reported interest in Shabab Al-Ahli winger Mehdi Ghaedi.

Postecoglou could repeat Jota masterclass

Standing at just 5 foot 5 tall, Ghaedi is a forward who burst onto the Iranian football scene back in 2019/20, with the 23-year-old scoring a whopping 10 goals and registering eight assists over his 30 Persian Gulf Pro League appearances for Esteghlal FC, in addition to bagging a further five goals and one assist over 11 outings across the Hazfi Cup, the AFC Champions League and AFC Champions League qualification.

This is form which the £1.08m-rated winger maintained over his 40 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring nine goals and providing nine assists in his side’s 2020/21 campaign, returns which saw him pick up the Persian Gulf Pro League’s young player of the season award.

A £1.38m move to Shabab Al-Ahli followed for the Iran international this summer, with the player who Tasnim News Agency dubbed a “wonderkid” and journalist Reza Khaasteh claimed is the “Iranian Neymar” having already netted three goals and provided one assist over nine UAE Pro League appearances for his new side.

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And, with Jota looking as if he will be ruled out until some point in January as a result of a hamstring injury, Postecoglou could well be in the market for a new left-winger this winter.

As such, considering Ghaedi’s obvious potential and more than likely wallet-friendly price tag, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss could well replicate his masterclass of bringing the Benfica loanee to Parkhead with a swoop for the 23-year-old Iranian gem.