When Celtic FC Women announced the signing of Anita Marcos it wasn’t an understated introduction: “one of the most exciting young players in Europe” was how the 19 year old Spaniard was described as she joined up with the Celtic in their inaugural season as a professional side.
Since then Anita has been part of an unbeaten start to the season for Celtic including a fantastic 2-1 win over 13-in-a-row champions Glasgow City. It’s fair to say the Covid-19 shutdown has come at a time when momentum was growing.
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We were at Celtic Park this morning to meet the new women’s team signing Anita Marcos. @_clarewilde asked about the strengths of the team and her place within it.
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Marcos signed on for Celtic on a year loan deal from Atletico Madrid and despite her age already has a good reputation behind her, having already won two league titles with Atletico, as well as twice helping Spain lift the Under-19 European Championship. Quite a coup then for Celtic.
The Spanish striker, who will wear the No.7 jersey for the Hoops spoke to BBC Scotland about the relevance of wearing that particular shirt and it seems Anita was more than aware it was a number worn by Henrik Larsson. For some that pressure may weigh heavy, for Anita however it’s an opportunity she is keen to grasp, as you can see from this BBC interview.
Speaking to the official Celtic website when she was unveiled, Anita let it be known the size of club and the passion of the support played a big part in her decision:
“I’m very happy because, for me, it’s a very good opportunity. I took this decision to come to Celtic because I want to grow and I want to win things with this club.
“I watch a lot of football so I know Celtic is a very big club. I’ve watched the games and I can see the passion, which is awesome.
Anita is under contract to Atletico until 2022. For the time being she will stay with Celtic until the end of June, with the option of extending until the conclusion of the Scottish season in November. It may well be that extension will now have to be considered as the Covid-19 shutdown looks like impacting on football until at least August.
Although Anita had fears with regards the Scottish weather – that won’t have been helped by that debut in the driving rain and gale force winds at K-Park against Glasgow City – the trade-off for Anita is the hope the switch to chillier climes will result in the opportunity more first team football and of course the reason Anita was signed, putting the ball in the back of the net.
Speaking to Glasgow Times Anita explained her thinking for swapping Madrid for Glasgow:
“Two years ago I joined the first team at Atletico and trained with them, but played with the second team,”
“This season I only train with the first team but didn’t get a lot of minutes so I need to come here for more minutes and to score goals.”
Anita certainly has a habit for scoring goals and it’s a knack Celtic will be hoping can propel them towards a title challenge in our first full season as a professional outfit. Playing for Atletico’s B team in the Spanish second division Anita helped herself to a stunning return of 54 goals in 62 games. Despite that impressive haul the youngster has found first team chances somewhat limited, though career highlights for Atletico first team include a debut goal against Rayo Vallecano and a Champions league appearance against German side Wolfsburg.
It seems like Anita is very happy to join Celtic and hopes to progress her football education in a new culture and footballing environment. Let’s hope that habit of scoring goals can help Celtic match title holders Glasgow City over the course of a season.
When it comes to head to head meetings the Ghirls have shown they have nothing to fear. It may just be the goals of Anita Marcos could extend that to a title genuine title challenge.
Niall J
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