SHANE DUFFY was Man of the Match yesterday as the Irishman scored and kept a cleansheet as Celtic romped to a 5-0 victory over Ross County. The big Irishman rose to meet a Callum McGregor corner and open his account for the Scottish Champions. However, as the Celtic support enjoyed the debut of the 28-year-old, a former Ireland Internationalist has voiced his concerns about Duffy’s decision to swap the Premier League for Celtic.
The English-born defender, Gary Breen, has said that the move could see Duffy becoming a worse player as he will not be as tested as he would be in England. Breen, who had spells at Barnet and Gillingham, told Off the Ball that Duffy’s Ireland place may be at risk due to this.
“If he doesn’t score double figures, I’ll be amazed.
“For Celtic, I think it is a brilliant signing and he could go down as a club legend as they go for this 10 In A Row season.
“This is a brilliant move for Celtic but the quality of player he is playing against now will be a big concern for Ireland.
“He is not going to be up against quality centre-forwards. There is no centre-forward in Scotland who would play in a Premier League team. None.
“He is going to be playing against lesser quality and that is a concern.
“If you consider that he has played in the Premier League, he was playing against top-class strikers there all the time. He can cope against these players.”
Duffy will be training with Odsonne Edouard and Albian Ajeti as well as Moi Elyounoussi, there are a number of players across the league that will provide the player with a physical challenge along with European football – something Breen never experienced.
“He might pick up a few bad habits (in Scotland), not because he is lazy but that he isn’t up against quality centre-forwards.
“Even the likes of Virgil van Dijk came down to Southampton from Celtic with dreadful habits. He wouldn’t get into the right positions quickly enough because he didn’t have to with Celtic.”
The disrespect shown towards Celtic and the Scottish Premiership is staggering but also suggesting that Duffy would be lazy and allow himself to accept bad traits is shocking to say the least. Duffy proved his determination and drive during the win in Dingwall where he even knocked his defensive colleague Christopher Jullien out of the way to score.
