Izzy sparks Celtic fever in Honduras

Ignore the part about him going to Barcelona its only his coach saying he is good enough for them, read half way down

Nou brainer | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scottish Sport|SPL
THE man who sent Emilio Izaguirre to Celtic reckons the in-form ace can fulfil a boyhood dream and star for BARCELONA.

Hector Zelaya brokered the flying full-back's bargain-basement summer switch from Honduras to the Hoops.
Motagua's general manager knew the World Cup star would be instant hit in the SPL.
He's not surprised Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United all have Izaguirre on their radar.
But mentor Zelaya reckons the 24-year-old should hang out for a dream move to the Nou Camp.
He said: "Emilio would fit perfectly in the Spanish league because of his ability with the ball. I think Pep Guardiola would LOVE him because the way he goes forward.
"The way Barca play would suit Emilio as Guardiola likes to see the full-backs running forward to attack.
"Barcelona have Dani Alves, who very often takes part in their attacks. I think Emilio would make an instant impact on the other side because he is a better crosser.
"Emilio is also a massive Barca fan like me. To be honest, I'd have a HEART ATTACK if he joined Barca!
"He would die to play for his beloved Barcelona. I think he is the type of player Guardiola needs. He is brave, intelligent and good with the ball.
"I see Emilio playing in Spain more than in England.
"At the end of the day, money talks and if Emilio leaves Celtic it will be a big deal."
Zelaya says Hondurans tend to support Barca or Real Madrid as their favoured overseas club.
But Izaguirre's success at Celtic has gripped his homeland and thousands there now follow the Hoops.
He said: "I can tell you that our players in Motagua are divided between supporters of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
"During the training sessions at Motagua, our trainer organises games between the players who support Barcelona and the ones who are Real fans. These games are intense and passionate.
"The players decided that the team which loses the game pays for the other team's dinner.
"Here in Honduras, 80 per cent of football fans support Barcelona and now Celtic because they have signed Izaguirre.
"It is incredible but there are a lot of Honduran fans walking the streets of Tegucigalpa in Celtic jerseys.
"The whole of Honduras watches the Celtic games on television. Emilio has sparked Celtic mania in our country.
<IFRAME style="WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px" marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://assets.rubiconproject.com/static/rtb/sync-min.html" frameBorder=0 width=0 scrolling=no height=0></IFRAME>
<NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT><IFRAME marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://ai.realmedia.com" frameBorder=0 width=0 scrolling=no height=0></IFRAME><IFRAME marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="HTTP://network.realmedia.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.ads/TRACK_Mindsetmedia/Retarget_Secure/356411549@Bottom3?_RM_HTML_MM_=011110150105005011051" frameBorder=0 width=0 scrolling=no height=0></IFRAME><META http-equiv=expires content=0></META><META http-equiv=Pragma content=no-cache></META><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT>

"It may sound crazy but Emilio is making sure that the entire country supports Celtic.
"Before he moved, we didn't have a lot of knowledge about Scottish football. Now every Honduran reads the papers or watches the television to see what is happening with Emilio in Scotland."
Izaguirre has sent scores of shirts to Honduras to kit out family and friends.
Zelaya said: "Emilio is a really smashing boy. I think he must have hired an entire container to send all the Celtic items here.
"He has sent huge numbers of jerseys, shorts, pennants, boots and other Celtic memorabilia to friends and former team-mates.
"He even sent me a Celtic shirt signed by him.
"He had the special touch to write me a joke on the jersey which I think was an amazing gesture. That kind of gesture is a sign that he still remembers his beginnings as a player and as a person."
Izaguirre has starred in Old Firm victories this season and is now eyeing the Treble in his first year at the Hoops.
And Zelaya says Celts should be applauded for having the courage to sign a player with no experience of European football.
He said: "We knew what we were sending to Celtic.
"We are used to seeing him running like a bull and crossing the ball perfectly.
"I knew what he was capable of doing in European football.
"Celtic were the shrewdest club and had no hesitation when they moved to sign Emilio."



Read more: Nou brainer | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scottish Sport|SPL

 

Good wee read that. Izzy sounds a top bloke. If barca want him ther going to have to dig deep

 

he's probably one of the lowest paid players on our books too.. i dont know what kind of contract he's on but i would hope that mr lawell would do his upmost to keep him happy here, its a long time since we had a full back of his quality.

 

Apparantly only on 5-6k p/w. And if that's the case then sit him down and give him a healthy pay rise and a 5 year deal. Can't let Izzy go on the cheap.

 

At some point he will move to a Liverpool/man u/Barca and good luck to him. However, would love to see him have 1 or 2 more seasons with us that involves good runs in Europe - I reckon he'd be even better in that type of game then he is for us now

 

Any agent worth his salt would probably advise him not to sign a deal like that - would be good to get it done though. I really hope I'm wrong but I can't see him being here next year

 

He'll be here for at least another season. He will want too up his profile more by competing in the ecc or Europa cup!

There may be a few admirers on the outside looking in but they may not move for him till he proves something in either euro cup... You know due too folks interpratation of the SPL's quality.

 

our very own Roberto Carlos

what a player

 

good point celtic@heart. Izzy has been by far one of the best signings in years for our club. (along with kayal).

Would loveto get another one or two seasons out of them because they've been fantastic.

 

Increase his wage now. Give him a new contract with a large buy out fee. He will know then if Barca want he can leave for the right fee at least 15million euro. Having said this does not mean I want Izzy sold but we do not want an unhappy player.

 

Izzy is quality, and hopefully he can give us another season or 2 before following in Henrik's footsteps to the Neu Camp.

 

I think Latin America is going to be very important to our success in the future. We've got Emilio and Efrain at the moment and I think we'll eventually expand to the Argentina/Uruguay/Chile markets who are all ripe with brilliant players, we were scared off the market befor with too much Scheidt from Brazil but if we were to pluck someone from the huge amount of attacking potential from those leagues we could spark a full on revelation in the team.

 

Guys im in Cancun, Mexico for spring break at the moment (no chad hogan tho!!!!) and I was walking around the market with my hoops on today ... the amount of Mexicans that came up to me saying "Celtic, Celtic, Efrain Juarez, The Bhoys"... was almost unbelieveable. Hes not even playing but yet every third mexican came up to me and told me about their love for Juarez and Celtic...

 

It's vital that we keep exploring these markets and build our fan base world wide.

 

get the wee man on a new 5 year contract and give him 20-25k a week!!

 

love reading these kinda things!!!!! bringing the hoops to the world

 

It's true. I live in Honduras and if all of you could see a match broadcasted in Fox Sports Latin America you'll see how many Honduran fans interact with the commentators via twitter and facebook, even if some match is at 6 hrs on sunday!

 

I hope we get another year or two out of Izzy, he is a brilliant player and when the clubs come calling i hope our board slap down a heavy price, because he is worth it and the likes of man u and barca can well afford it, its about time they realised they cant take our players for pennies anymore.

 

He's worth at least 15m