LAGERBIELKE, NAWROCKI, KOBAYASHI: ARE CELTIC TOO QUICK TO WRITE OFF NEW SIGNINGS?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Over the last few days, Celtic have confirmed the departures of two defenders on the periphery of our first team squad. Last night Gustaf Lagerbielke confirmed his permanent move to Portuguese side FC Braga.
This came just a couple of days after Maik Nawrocki, another central defender deemed surplus to requirements at Celtic joined Bundesliga 2 club Hanover 96.
I was also interested to see that, as the Nawrocki deal was going through, another center-back with a short lived Celtic career was also on the move.
After a solid season with Portuguese 2nd tier team Portimonense, Yuki Kobayashi, who only managed 6 appearances for the hoops during his ill-fated time at the club, has earned a move back to top flight European football, with Polish Premier League contenders Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Did Celtic Give These Players a Fair Chance?
None of these three players will probably register any more than a footnote in Celtic’s history even a few years from now. Lagerbielke only made 10 appearances during his time at Celtic. Nawrocki did slightly better than Kobayashi or Lagerbielke but he too only managed a total of 18 appearances during his spell in Glasgow.
There has been a lot of debate among the Celtic support over the last few days around Nawrocki’s departure in particular. Whilst it’s often been claimed that he “doesn't fit the Manager's style of play” many fans believed him to be Celtic’s 2nd best central defender last season, behind only Cameron Carter-Vickers.
“We never gave the boy a chance!” Seems to be a common thread in debates around the player and his time at Celtic.
There is no right or wrong answer, since this is entirely a matter of opinion and conjecture. However, if we believe that, with 18 appearances, Nawrocki wasn't given an adequate platform to prove himself worthy of a run in the Celtic team, then surely we could also say the same about Lagerbielke and perhaps even Kobayashi.
Now, all three of these players had, in my opinion, quite obvious limitations that were there for all to see during their short spells in the Celtic first team. However, They were all issues that could, I believe, have been ironed out and improved on with time and proper training.
Lagerbielke needed to work on his reactions and intelligence. He lacked pace, but a good, well-disciplined footballing brain can make up for that.
Nawrocki’s issue was his passing out from defense was a bit suspect. But again, this is something that could be coached out of his game in time.
Certainly when it came to tough tackling and putting his body on the line when it mattered, I’d rate him on the same level as Carter-Vickers.
Kobayashi became something of a whipping boy for both the Scottish media and a certain section of the Celtic support. It’s not often that one bad game can completely destroy a player’s confidence and their subsequent Celtic career, but Celtic’s 3-0 loss at Ibrox, after the league was already won back in 2023 seemed to do just that.
Admittedly, Kobayashi did have one of the worst games I've seen a Celtic player have in a long time that day.
Kobayashi’s critics conveniently forget one thing though, the entire Celtic team were absolutely rotten that day.
Every loss in a Glasgow Derby needs a scapegoat, and ultimately Kobayashi was it.
Now, he was lightweight, and clearly seemed nervous at the prospect of playing in such a fervent atmosphere in front of so many people.
However, again, this is nothing that a few months on a strength and conditioning regimen and perhaps a few sessions with a sports psychologist couldn't solve.
The counterargument to this is of course, why didn't Celtic’s scouts identify these deficiencies before they signed the player?
That seems to me though, to be more of an indictment on our recruitment policies than on any of the players mentioned in this article.
The fact that Kobayashi has gone on to fashion a career in European football, albeit at a lower level, tells me that, if nothing else, he has the character not to let setbacks like his aborted Celtic career derail his determination to play football.
I believe that, in time, Lagerbielke and Nawrocki will also be successful elsewhere.
However, all three of them will probably, for the rest of their playing careers carry that nagging doubt at the back of their mind. Could they have made it at Celtic?
Ultimately, we will never know. However, I do think that we could all benefit from giving our new recruits a bit more time before we judge them too harshly.