Big Mercedes – Moritz Jenz – has been talking about Celtic’s start to their Champions League campaign and the boast that Cameron Carter-Vickers’ return to fitness will provide to Brendan Rodgers’ side for the rest of the European campaign and domestically where he believes Celtic will stroll it to yet anther title.
The Jenz family clearly enjoyed their short spell at Celtic which ended rather abruptly with the German dropping out of the side once Carl Starfelt returned to fitness after an injury picked up in the 4-0 win over theRangers at Celtic Park in Septmeber 2022.
That injury and al earlier one Starlet picked up that summer while playing for Sweden, meant that Jenz played in most of the games in the first part of the season, including in the Champions League. Jenz became a popular figure amongst the Celtic support, given his Mercedes nickname by Sandman of this parish, and Jenz certainly was chuffed to learn about it when asked about it at a media conference.
Yet with Starfelt back to full fitness Celtic decided not to take up their option on the player with French side Lorient and instead allowed him to leave in the January transfer window with Japanese defender Yuki Kobayashi filling the vacant space in the Celtic squad.
Perhaps that wasn’t the best decision made by Ange Postecoglou and Lorient went on to secure a much bigger transfer fee, selling Jenz to Wolfsburg in the summer for around £8million after he had a successful loan spell at Schalke 04 after his surprising exit from Celtic.
Jenz though remains interested in following Celtic, even watching the games wearing his match-worn Celtic shirt and in an interview with Scottish Sun talks about how much his family all enjoyed living in Glasgow.
A defender we should of kept until the end of his loan, obviously Jenz wanted to play every week, completely understandable. https://t.co/YK4XZtxuu8
— Celtic Now And Forever (@celtic_now) October 10, 2023
He is full of admiration and praise for Cameron Carter-Vickers, his central defensive partner during his time at Celtic, and reckons that Celtic will now kick on after a slightly wobbly start to the season, now that CCV is back in the team.
“CCV is a great guy. First of all, he’s not selfish. He’s a top team player. You saw him come on against Lazio and you could see his presence. Everyone was like, ‘CCV is here!’. It was very stable,” Jenz said.
“OK, the goal they conceded was a bit unlucky where Cameron could have kicked it out, but this can happen. But he is so important. It’s like having a rock, or a Fridge, next to you.
“You know he’s going to be there and will cover you when someone goes past you. He’s always very safe and assured. Cam’s not a big talker during games. He leads more by actions, which is also good. There were some players who like to talk more. I don’t want to mention any names — Greg Taylor! No, I’m joking. It’s good to see CCV back,” Big Mercedes added.
Jenž watched with interest as Celtic brought in two new central defenders Maik Nawrocki and Gustav Lagerbielke and wasn’t too surprised that both found it tricky to settle into playing for a big club like Celtic.
“It was a bit of a difficult start to the season, with the new manager and then two new centre-halves joining. The new guys are young and aren’t very experienced at that level. They were coming to a big club and had to perform every week.
“It’s not easy. You could sense there was a bit of a nervousness about the team. But
“CCV has so much ability and the other defenders will have confidence because of his experience. He will guide the younger lads and Liam Scales. We mostly played all the games together when I was there and it was a nice partnership.
“We trusted each other, we had respect and I really like CCV as a person. I enjoyed it, and a lot of players will enjoy playing with him. Sometimes you have centre-back partners who aren’t very open to agreeing to things when the other one is asking an opinion. CCV was always listening and it was a good relationship.
“There was a strong bond, and you knew it was very difficult to beat this pairing because they understood each other blind. That’s what I really enjoyed about my time with him. I just love seeing Cameron back on the pitch, shining like always,” Jenz said.
Clearly still a Celtic supporter, Jenz tuned in to both Champions League matches against Feyenoord and Lazio and was slightly surprised at the approach taken in the opening match in Rotterdam while seeing a better performance in the game against Lazio, where he reckons Celtic were just unlucky.
“I was surprised with the way Celtic approached the Feyenoord game. It was a bit of a different style to what we had last year. We were going into games bravely, and it was maybe a bit more even on possession and about creating a lot of chances,” Jenz said.
“Then I saw the game against Lazio and it was looking much better. They were going in with the pride of Celtic, dominating the game, creating a lot of chances and dangerous to play against. The winning goal was very unlucky. Maybe there could have been better game-management but I understand it because they were pushing for the win, and Celtic hadn’t done that for such a long time.
“When they play Atletico Madrid they have to be the same. They have to be brave and try everything they can to win. But they need to be aware of the danger of the counter-attack because Atletico are very strong at that. It will be two very hard games, but you want to measure yourself against the best.
“If they can get a win and a draw, then everything is back open, and we can see from there where the Champions League journey goes,” Big Mercedes reckons, although that’s a tough ask against Atletico who look like the best side in the group.
“I’ll be watching, for sure. I put my Celtic shirt on for the last game. My son also has a Celtic strip. We miss Scotland so much. Every week or two we speak about the time in Scotland and our friends in Glasgow.
“Maybe we’ll return sometime to visit or maybe live there, as we really enjoyed the city. The people of Scotland were so warm, open and honest. I loved it, so did my wife.
“Indiana was close to being Scottish. If I’d stayed at Celtic longer he would have been. My wife Stefania is a big Outlander fan, so she was hoping so! It would have been cool to have a Scottish son.
“When I was at Celtic, I went to the fan shop and got the classic strip for every month he was growing until the age of two. So he has so many in the house. He comes to the games here wearing it because Wolfsburg play in green and white too.”
Best of luck to Moritz and his family and they’d always receive a warm reception if they make it back to Paradise.
Book Launch party at the Kerrydale Suite on Thursday 19 October featuring special guests @JohnHartson10 , Stephen McManus and @BoolavogueMusic live. Tickets available now via https://t.co/GZgf3cBegW @Boola_vogue pic.twitter.com/lPmcnwX2Rl
— The Celtic Star News Feed (@CelticStarMag) October 10, 2023
