CELTIC WANTED A £2.4M STRIKER, BUT HE’S ONLY SCORED ONE GOAL SINCE.

Josh Maja, last season’s leading scorer with 17 goals, was always going to be difficult to replace, especially after Bordeaux failed to regain promotion to France’s top flight.

However, even more was anticipated of the striker who eventually took Maja’s place, with the Ligue 2 club signing Zan Vipotnik in a £2.4 million transfer despite interest from the Scottish champions, among others.

“Yes, there is interest from Celtic for a summer transfer,” said Vipotnik’s agent, Sasa Zupan, at the start of the window. “But there a lot of clubs who want to sign Zan when the window opens.”

In 2022/23, Vipotnik scored 23 goals for Slovenian club Maribor. So, while he deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt – he is far from the first player to struggle in a new league and at a new club – a record of one goal in his first seven Bordeaux outings is a rather disappointing return.

Celtic desired Vipotnik, Zan
When challenged about his struggling frontline on Thursday, Les Girondins coach David Guion claimed that the burden should fall exclusively on his own shoulders.

“As much as you can point the finger at me, criticise me, don’t count on me to criticise my players in front of everyone,” Guion told Girondins4Eva. “If I have to tell them something – and believe me, I do – it’s in my office, face to face.”

“This is purely a collective issue.” I don’t want to single out any players. If we place the right cross, perhaps Vipi (Vipotnik) will be there to greet them.”

Did Celtic get lucky?
Clearly, in Guion’s opinion, the problem is a collective one, not an individual one. Asking Vipotnik to match last season’s 23 goals without outstanding service is akin to asking Gordon Ramsey to prepare a Michelin-starred dinner using ingredients from your local Farmfoods.

However, the fact that Vipotnik has only played 25 minutes in Bordeaux’s last two games after starting the season in the starting XI reveals that the one-time Celtic target still has a lot of work to do in order to repay Bordeaux’s faith.

Not to mention the transfer cost of £2.4 million.