Turkish striker and Celtic flop Nadir Ciftci has returned to the Scottish game after St Johnstone announced they had signed him on a short term deal until the end of the season to help boost their survival chances.
Callum Davidson will be hoping Ciftci can re-discover the scoring form he showed during his days at Dundee United where he managed to score 33 goals over two seasons that attracted the attention of then Celtic manager Ronny Delia. The fact Celtic paid £1.5m for the striker and handed him the much vaunted number 7 shirt shows how much faith the club had in him but the move never worked out for either party, with Ciftci failing to make any impression during his time at Celtic Park.
🔵St Johnstone sign former Celtic and Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci 👇
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 5, 2022
Ciftci may actually be remembered more fondly by Celtic fans for the goal he scored for Dundee United at a ‘neutral’ Ibrox in the Scottish Cup semi-final against theRangers in 2014 than he is for any of the four goals he scored in the hoops. That goal gave his then manager and former Celtic hero Jackie McNamara the pleasure of knocking out the newly formed pretenders playing out of Ibrox.
🆕 | Nadir Ciftci has today signed for the Club until the end of the season, subject to international clearance.
Welcome to Saints, Nadir 👏#SJFC
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) January 5, 2022
The former Celtic and Dundee United striker told the official St Johnstone website: “I spent five years in Scottish football so I know all about the SPFL Premiership. Even though I have been away for a few years, I still kept up an interest in Scottish football.
“I was well aware of St Johnstone winning the two Cups last season. It was an unbelievable achievement and it was well deserved. So, when Callum Davidson phoned me he didn’t need to persuade me to make the move. I know what St Johnstone is all about and it is a very good Football Club.
“I remember Callum from my time in Scotland and he has progressed into a fine manager. I want to help and I know I am going to enjoy playing for him. He has given me an opportunity to play football for the next five months and I am very excited about that.
“I’ve not played too much in the past six months and it hurt me to be on the sidelines. But, thankfully, my level of fitness is good. It’s just about finding my natural rhythm in competitive games, finding my automatic instincts and getting my level of confidence back. I’m relaxed about it all.
“My job is to help the team win games of football and I am ready for the challenge ahead. Yes, I want to score goals, of course. But it’s more important that we play as a team and we all make the correct contribution.
“I am not here to be selfish. St Johnstone is the priority and they will always come first. The effort in the next few months needs to be a collective one and that is the attitude that will help us win the games we need to win,” Ciftci stated.
Ciftci followed the lead of former teammates Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven when in the summer of 2015 he headed to Celtic Park in a deal that netted Dundee United £1.5m for a player they signed on a free. He never seemed to fit into the system whilst at Celtic and to be honest was a huge flop. After many of us were impressed by his exploits at Dundee United we really did expect better.
With Ciftci only scoring four goals during the first half of the season, with two of those four ironically being scored at McDiarmid Park in a 3-0 win, the writing was on the wall at an early stage. Callum Davidson was actually St Johnstone assistant manager that day, maybe he remembers a better player than the rest of us do.
At the start of February 2016 after only half a season, it was announced Celtic had loaned the striker to Turkish club Eskişehirspor with Ronny Delia stating he needed to play consistently at such a young age and claimed he would be back in the summer. Having returned to Celtic that summer he was totally out of the first team picture and ended up going on loan for a second time the following February to Polish side Pogoń Szczecin. Again failing to impress, he ended up back at Celtic once more.
That summer he was once again sent on loan this time closer to home with EFL side Plymouth Argyle taking a punt on Ciftci, and once again he failed to make his mark during the spell. Plymouth actually ended his loan deal early so Motherwell stepped in just as it looked like he was going to end up back at Celtic Park to see his contract out. Once his spell at Fir Park was over it was the end of the road for Ciftci at Celtic.
Nadir Ciftci was one of many punts in the striking department during Ronny Delia’s time in charge that failed to pay dividends. Whilst most Celtic fans won’t have fond memories of his time with the club I’m sure most will hope he can get his career back on track with St Johnstone. An important goal to take points of theRangers at some point during the season and all will be forgiven Nadir!
Conall McGinty
CONFIRMED: St Johnstone have announced the signing of former Celtic & Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci.
He arrives from Turkish side MKE, subject to international clearance.
— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) January 5, 2022
PS Didn’t Nadir Ciftci score the first goal for a Brendan Rodgers managed Celtic side, in a friendly before we played Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar?
