Michel-Ange Balikwisha

I'd take him, to be out from late July to late March then come back and within a few weeks end up playing 90 minutes 9 games in a row to end the season is a good comeback.

Plus his stats are pretty good as well, really good at defending and got 4 goals and 3 assists in the last 10 games which was the top of the League play offs against Club Brugge, Anderlecht, Genk, Gent and Union St Gilloise, got a goal or assist against all 5 of the best teams in the League after being out for 7 month.

He also had a really good season the year before.

In his last 41 games in the Belgian League he has 11 goals and 8 assists even though he only started 33 games.

Seems a decent finisher too, scored those 11 goals from 53 shots. Kuhn last season for us scored 13 goals from 61 shots in the League. Cerny from the huns scpred 12 from 96 shots.

 

Fuckit, bring Mick home..

 

Convinced me anaw

 

Very well said.

What is leading people astray is his YouTube video is bang average, it seems to have a lot of youth internationals and underage games as the main substance of it. If we get to the point that he's flying in for a medical a new video will drop and it will likely change people's perceptions of him. I'm not sure how legit our interest is though.

 

When you put it like that... get him in now!!

 

Got a bad feeling in this, think theyve tried to mess around with fees, probably hoping otherninterest, absolutenzilch and now trying to backtrack and flog him to us.

 

His stats are actually pretty impressive and he seems to improve every season. He isn't really injury prone either, pretty much played consistently since he was 19 all the way through apart from that one big lay off last season so he's not really an injury prone player.

Has a pretty good record in big games also, against the top 4 teams in Belgium, Club Brugge, Anderlecht, Genk and Union he has 10 goals and 5 assists in 60 games and in Europe has 4 goals and 5 assists in 22 games, in Europe he's scored against Olympiakos, Shakhtar Donestk and AEK Athens. So like 24 goals/assists in 82 bigger games, especially considering he was 19-23 for 90% of them.

Chances are if he wasn't injured last season he'd probably have been on course for a top season, especially the way he ended it with 7 g/a in 10 games against all the top teams in the League, if he'd done that over the course of the season injury free he'd probably have had like 12 goals and 9 assists just in the League last season if he'd played his usual amount of games.

129 tackles/interceptions in the League last season and the season before too in 3442 minutes so averaging like 3.4 tackles/interceptions per 90 which is really high.

In the Belgian League last season from all wide players he was per 90 2nd for interceptions and 8th for tackles. The season before he was 3rd for tackling and 2nd for interceptions. But not just that for being dribbled past he is way better than all the other guys at the top only averaging about 0.3 per 90 where as almost every other winger is 3x that at least and some are 5/6x that, the average for a winger is probably being dribbled past about 1.5 times per 90 over the course of a League season say 45 times where as for him it's only about 10.

Him and his brother I guess actually who plays for Leuven are probably by far the two top defensive wide players in Belgium only his brother is pish and only averages about 2 goals/assists per season. Then theres one other guy Christopher Bonsu Baah from Genk who does well defensively also although not really the same level but better than the rest.

 

Royal Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha's agent has lifted the lid on a potential move to Celtic.


Brendan Rodgers is looking to add more firepower to his frontline - with a new winger on the Parkhead shopping list this summer.



Reports in Belgium had suggested that 24-year-old Baliikwisha is a target for the Scottish Premiership champions with claims that a deal was "close" to bring wide man to Glasgow's east end.



Sporting director at cash-strapped Antwerp Marc Overmars has admitted that the club are open to selling their key men - with Balikwisha expected to be on the list of departures with his contract set to expire next summer


However, the player's representative Jibril Rekkab insists that while the Belgian is not against the idea of a move to Celtic - but talks have yet to take place.

He told Record Sport: "Michel-Ange is not closed to the idea of joining Celtic, but the club would still have to come forward. No discussions are underway.


Celtic have been keen on the 24-year-old winger for more than a year and were ready to move before he suffered his last injury.

The Hoops have already sold Nicolas Kuhn to Como for more than £17 million and Balikwisha is one of their top wide options they see as his replacement.

 

36 pages and no nearer to being a Celt.
Getting up towards the heady heights of Kvistgaarden or Lennon Miller # of pages on the TC rumour mill

 

He’ll be confirmed on Friday

 

I'll quote you on that on Saturday morning @The Crow .
I'm not so sure....
"is not closed to the idea" - hardly a man desperate to sign
"No discussions are underway" - hardly seems imminent either?

 

I never said what Friday he’d be confirmed

 

Not happening then...

 

Good stuff

 

Ssh don't say that Crows just about to post his Welcome thread

 

I’ll someone else have a shot

 

Get this * in the bin. Sounds like agent trying to get celtic back to table.