Osaze Urhoghide

He was, he was brought in by Lawwell’s contacts through his boy at Man City.

 

Frimpong played for City development team v Celtic at Lennoxtown. Lennon and duff were at the game he was signed from there.

A player spotted by the coaching staff, including the manager. Frimpong is not one of "these types" of signings

 

We’ll agree to disagree on that one, he was a young guy brought in through board contacts.

I don’t mind it with young players, we should be exploiting every * contact we have to bring the best youngsters possible in.

When it comes to the ones like Shved, that actively damaged the relationship between management and board, and is against the explicit wishes that’s * bullshit.

 

Story of signing Frimpong is pretty common knowledge but believe what you like.

Shved proved * like this has gone on before.
Scales transfer absolutely stinks given Desmonds links to Rovers and these no chance whatsoever Ange wanted Mccarthy.

Like iv said though looks like we have finally shifted away from that nonsense over last few months and seem to be trusting manager and possibly have a ceo who isn't overstepping his remit so hopefully less of these type of signings going forward

 

Osaze Urhoghide's first appearance for Belgian club KV Oostende did not go as planned with De Kustboys suffering their joint-heaviest away defeat of the 2021-2022 Pro League season.

The Celtic loanee started a league game for the first time since April 10, 2021 when he played for 71 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday's 4-1 loss at Queens Park Rangers in the EFL Championship.

KV Oostende suffered a comprehensive loss to Mechelen, conceding three goals without reply.

Wearing the number 5 at the back of his jersey, the 2019 Nigeria U23 invitee started at right wing-back in a 3-4-3 formation deployed by manager Yves Vanderhaeghe.

The KVO defence managed to keep Mechelen strikers at bay in the opening half an hour but had a difficult time in the last fifteen minutes of the half.

After Schoofs' header hit the crossbar and Hairemans' effort went wide, the home team was third time lucky as Mrabti finished off a fine team move to open the scoring in the 42nd minute.

On his debut for KV Oostende, Urhoghide, who has been inactive for parent club Celtic since December 9, was replaced at half-time.

The 21-year-old made the move to KV Oostende in search of regular game time after featuring only once for the Hoops since joining from Sheffield Wednesday

 

Osaze Urhoghide admits he doesn’t know what the future holds for him at Celtic.

The Dutch-born defender has joined KV Oostende on loan for the remainder of the campaign.



And he could sign for the Belgium outfit permanently after an option to buy clause was agreed.

The 21-year-old - who only arrived at Parkhead in the summer - made his Pro League debut last weekend.

And in an exclusive interview with Football Scotland, Urhoghide confessed he's unsure where he will be playing his football next season.

“The option [to buy] is there, but at the moment I’ll be going back to Celtic and we’ll see what happens in the summer", he said.


Obviously I want to do well for Celtic as well, but we’ll see what happens in the summer in terms of that clause, really.




I’m just enjoying my football at the moment and focusing on improving. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Urhoghide has been limited to just one competitive appearance for the Hoops since his move from Sheffield Wednesday.

That's why manager Ange Postecoglou decided the youngster's development would be better served elsewhere, for now at least.

Urhoghide said: “We had conversations. He wanted me to go out on loan. He still has a future with me there at Celtic.

“They obviously wanted me to get games and improve. He sees that I have potential as well, but felt it would be best to get games elsewhere to develop, really.”

Premiership strugglers Dundee were one of a number of clubs chasing his signature, but Urhoghide was keen to challenge himself abroad.

He explained: “Obviously it’s a different culture here, a different style of play. It’s a good league.

“There were some other options as well


Obviously there’s a range of teams in the league similar to the Scottish Premiership. I spoke to the manager before and it felt like a good fit.

“Dundee could have been the best fit, but after consideration, we decided to go to Belgium. I wanted to see what teams were available and then decide what was best for me moving forward.

“There were some League One clubs [interested]. We were looking down south as well.

“We know the English leagues are very competitive and good as well, so I was looking there. But going abroad offered a different kind of opportunity and experience.”





Urhoghide’s switch to KVO sees him follow the same path as former Hoops ace Jack Hendry.

Inevitably, comparisons will be made between the two.

Hendry joined Oostende on loan last season before the club landed the Scotland international on a cut-price deal.

The shrewd Belgians then made a quick profit by selling the 26-year-old to Club Brugge just weeks later as Hendry completed a remarkable transformation from a Parkhead fringe player to a Champions League defender.

However, when asked if Hendry’s success story played a part in his decision, Urhoghide revealed: “To be honest, not really. I didn’t know Jack Hendry, I didn’t speak to him before. I wasn’t here when he was here. That wasn’t really a factor.

“I know naturally there’s going to be a lot of comparisons because we’re both centre-backs, we’re both fringe players and with the same clause.

“People think I’m going to take the same route as him, but I just thought it was a good opportunity to go to a good league where they want you.”

Urhoghide’s only appearance for Celtic came in December's dead-rubber Europa League finale with Real Betis.

The ex-Wimbledon kid put in an impressive performance at right-back as Postecoglou's second-string side stunned their La Liga opponents with a 3-2 victory.

Urhoghide admits it was a special moment making his bow on the European stage as he smiled: “I was waiting quite a long time and then the opportunity came. I was working really hard behind the scenes. It was good to get the win.

“I always wanted to make my debut at Celtic Park, really. Being on the bench, I saw other players making their debuts and obviously the crowd roaring their name.

“I’m hungry to get that opportunity as well. I knew I had to perform, I knew I had to show everyone what I could do really.


Doing the analysis, I still felt there were areas where I could improve, such as my positioning for one of their chances and stuff, and just going forward in later stages of the game. But overall, I thought it was a good performance.”

Despite starting the Euro match at full-back, towering Urhoghide sees himself as a central defender.

He said: “My best position probably would be centre-back. Obviously, Ange knows that as well.

“He told me, ‘I see you as a centre-back. I know you can play right-back, and if needed, I’ll play you there as well’.

“But centre-back at the moment is my strongest position. I feel like I can also develop as a right-back and a centre-back to do both jobs as well as each other.”

From the highs of making his first appearance, Urhoghide was brought crashing back down to earth after suffering an injury just weeks later.




It was a cruel setback for a player who looked as if his Hoops career was just about to take off.

However, level-headed Urhoghide doesn’t hold any grudges over his lack of minutes. Instead, he acknowledges the quality currently ahead of him.

He said: “At the moment, we’ve got a good squad. We’re flying at the moment and winning games.

“It’s about doing the best you can in training and trying to show the manager why you should play. Then you leave it up to the manager to make the decision.

“At the end of the day, everyone is fighting for a place in the team, but not everyone can play. That’s part of football. You’ve just got to soak it up and keep working hard once the opportunity comes.”

Urhoghide joined Celtic as part of a double transfer swoop, following Owls teammate and close pal Liam Shaw to Glasgow.



He added: “When Liam went over, I didn’t know about Celtic’s interest [in me] at the time.

“But in the summer when I found out, obviously it was a new experience really.

“We just laughed when we saw each other. I spoke to him just before I came as well and it was just funny when we saw each other again.

 

Celtic expect defender Osaze Urhoghide to join a new club next season, Football Insiderunderstands.

The 21-year-old moved to Belgian side Oostende in the January transfer window on a loan until the end of the season.


A Celtic source has told Football Insider that Urhoghide is likely to be on the move again in the summer window.


Oostende have the option to buy him as part of the loan deal struck in January and, if a deal cannot be agreed, he is likely to head elsewhere.


The defender has admitted he would be open to staying at Oostende, where he has emerged as a regular in their starting line-up operating at centre-back.

At Celtic, he had struggled to make an impression since joining from Sheffield Wednesday as a free agent last summer.

The Hoops paid just a £200,000 compensation fee for the youngster to sign him ahead of English clubs.



He made just one appearance for Celtic in the first half of the season before heading out on loan.

That came at right-back in the 3-2 Europa League win over Real Betis on 9 December.

That match was a dead rubber and Ange Postecoglu did not give Urhoghide any more game time before he was loaned out.

The manager believes that Celtic have better and more experienced options in defence


But Urhoghide has made a big impression in the Belgium top division.

He has played five times since his arrival at Oostende, and has started five of their last six league matches.

 

I think it would be daft to sell him he looked good against Betis

 

Maybe ange just didn't fancy him or fit into his system. Or maybe now that ange is almost done a full season he knows who he wants to bring in next season and improve all areas of the team and this lad won't cut it. Didn't celtic sign him and Shaw before ange was even appointed?

 

Yeah, I don't have a problem with the signing really. It was a young guy with championship experience on a low fee and we needed a dozen players in. It obviously hasn't worked but if Oostende want to keep him I could see us easily getting over a million for him.

 

First Jack Hendry, now this

 

With Ccv unlikely to stay this would be * stupid. He has all the attributes to be a good centre back.

 

Which would actually see us end up making a small profit if that happens as we only paid 200,000 for him.

 

Not too fussed if he goes in all honesty. He's a tank of a lad who did well enough against Betis in a dead rubber but he still looked miles away from anyone in our back 4.

 

I trust Ange on what he decides on this one. Urhoghide showed good speed, physicality and athleticism against Betis but his positioning and understanding of the game was really poor.

The game against Morton for the B Team in the Irn Bru Cup was shockingly bad when he was centre back. He was massively at fault for 2 goals.

Ange will have seen a lot more of him in training and the rumour was he prefers Lawal and Murray to him so as well cashing in and making some money back into the pot to spend on others he does want.

 

Looked decent at rb against betis but he's naturally a cb by all accounts.

As a rb he's behind Juranovic and Ralston and in few appearances he made at cb in pre season he looked awful.

 

Let him move on. Another punt that hasn’t worked out. Good luck to him.

 

Yes, suspect Ange has just decided that he does not suit the system Ange wants, so best to move him on. He did look to have something about him what little I saw of him.

 

Dubious as to accepting Celts performing well in Belgium and expecting them to do the same here.

Different pressure, different demand, just different in so many ways.

Buuuuuuuuuuut........that's a fairly decent mock up of highlight clips. Some pretty routine defending mixed in to pad it out but also bits of him showing some strength on the ball....could he? Could he really come back and stake a claim?