Former Celtic striker Nadir Çiftçi has sealed a return to Scottish football with St Johnstone. The 29-year-old joins Callum Davidson’s Saints from Turkish side MKE Ankaragucu as he looks to help last year’s Double Winners avoid relegation.
🆕 | 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
Çiftçi was signed in the summer of 2015 from Dundee United by Ronny Deila’s Celtic; however, he struggled to make an impact, scoring just 4 goals in 22 appearances. The Turkish striker would have been hoping that the arrival of Brendan Rodgers might bring out the best in him. Although, across the season, he made four appearances with just one coming in the league.
Çiftçi made two surprising appearances came at the start of February 2017, shortly before his loan move to Poland. The striker’s only league appearance that season came in the 5-2 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Çiftçi replaced Roberts with five minutes remaining; however, he played his part – albeit a tiny part in the league success that year.
They would prove to be his final competitive minutes for Celtic with a series of loan moves with Plymouth, Motherwell and Polish side Pogoń Szczecin before a move to Turkey’s second division with Gençlerbirliği S.K.
It will be interesting to see how Çiftçi gets on his role at McDiarmid Park. At 29, the Turkish forward would be keen to replicate his form at Dundee United as he looks to save them from the drop.
