Opinion: 25-goal star is unlucky not to start more Celtic games this year

Liel Abada’s superb opening goal for Celtic in the 4-0 win over St Mirren was his 10th goal of the season, and his 25th overall for the Hoops, in 84 appearances.

The 21-year-old winger needs to score only six more goals this season to beat his goal tally from last season, and you wouldn’t bet against him doing that, the only thing that could stop him is his lack of playing time.

Even though Abada has been one of the best signings of the Ange Postecoglou era – he has scored three goals against Rangers in that time, for example – he is a tad unfortunate as the Hoops have a lot of players who play in his position –  as a winger – to choose from, and that means that the player perhaps doesn’t start as many games as he should for the Hoops.

So far this season, Abada has made 30 appearances for the Hoops, but he has been limited to 14 starts for the team, which is a bit of a surprise when you consider that the player is a regular goal scorer for the Hoops when he gets the chance.

You just need to look at the goal Abada scored against St Mirren for an example of that the player can do, as he reacted quickest to a shot coming off the post and blasted the ball into the corner of the net, giving the goalkeeper no chance, it was an excellent goal. 

YouTube: Celtic 4-0 St. Mirren | Kyogo Furuhashi Scores Stunning Lob in Dominant Display | cinch Premiership

It wouldn’t be a surprise though to see Abada left out of the Celtic line-up to face Morton at the weekend, even though you would think that it is the type of game that he could have a field day in, but the chances are that the winger could well be on the bench.

Abada is so good that he would likely be a starter for every other team in Scotland and for a number of teams in England too, and the Hoops are fortunate that they have been able to win a number of games without the player in the starting line-up, which shows just how strong the current Celtic side is.

Abada is obviously going to be an important player for the Hoops for the rest of the season and hopefully for another few years at Celtic at least, but it seems that this season a lot of his contributions will come off the bench, and that is unfortunate for the player, but as long as he is happy at the club then all is good for the player and for Celtic.