Two substitute appearances.
That’s all we’ve really got to go on with Shim Mheuka in a Celtic jersey so far.
Normally, I’d be the first person telling everyone to calm down. We’ve seen players look like world-beaters for 20 minutes before disappearing without trace. Nobody should be declaring an 18-year-old kid the next superstar after a couple of cameos.
But there’s something about Mheuka already that I really like.
It’s not just ability.
It’s his attitude and application.
Those two things are absolutely fundamental to me when judging any player who pulls on a Celtic jersey, but there’s something particularly encouraging when you see them immediately from a loan signing.
Mheuka isn’t our player. Chelsea have protected their investment by tying him down on a new five-year contract before sending him north. That alone gives you a pretty sizeable indication of how highly they regard him.
Yet he hasn’t arrived at Celtic looking like a young Premier League prospect doing Scottish football a favour.
Quite the opposite.
He looks hungry.
Mheuka has come to Celtic to play.
Watch his two appearances and there’s an urgency about him.
He wants involved. He wants the ball. He makes things happen. Most importantly, he looks like somebody determined to make an impression rather than somebody happy to spend a season experiencing first-team football.
Against St Mirren, he thought he’d got his first Celtic goal only for the bizarre VAR situation to intervene. The technology couldn’t draw the required lines, leaving the referee to make the offside judgement from the monitor.
Forget the decision for a minute, though.
Look at Mheuka.
An 18-year-old coming into a difficult away game, Celtic chasing the result, and he wanted to affect it.
Martin O’Neill noticed it as well.
After Paisley, the Celtic manager said Mheuka “could be a proper player in time” and admitted he could already envisage the youngster starting games.
That’s quite an endorsement after such limited exposure.
O’Neill has since gone further, saying he expects “decent things” from the youngster and believes he is definitely capable of making an impact.
Again, nobody needs to get carried away.
But my interest has certainly been piqued.
Attitude and application matter.
Talent gets you through the door at Chelsea.
What happens afterwards comes down to far more than talent.
Mheuka himself has spoken about wanting to train, fight his way into the Celtic team and make an impact whenever opportunities arrive. His comments about believing he can affect a game when introduced from the bench tell you something about the mentality we’re already seeing on the pitch.
That’s exactly what I want to hear.
I’ve never expected every Celtic player to be the most technically gifted footballer in the squad. What supporters will forgive very quickly is a mistake from somebody giving absolutely everything.
What becomes much harder to accept is a player looking passive.
Application costs nothing.
Neither does attitude.
Arrive on loan from Chelsea at 18 and you could easily be forgiven for needing several weeks to find your feet. Instead, Mheuka already looks desperate to show O’Neill why he should be playing.
For a loan player especially, that sweetens the deal for me.
We’re developing somebody else’s asset here. Chelsea ultimately stand to benefit if Mheuka spends a year at Celtic and returns a considerably better footballer.
So Celtic need something substantial out of this arrangement too.
If we’re giving minutes to another club’s highly rated youngster, make those minutes count.
Early indications suggest Mheuka intends to.
Chelsea clearly believe there is a serious player there.
His background makes the early signs even more intriguing.
Mheuka moved from Brighton’s academy to Chelsea at 14, made his senior Chelsea debut at only 17 and subsequently became their youngest-ever starter in European competition. He has also built an excellent scoring record with England’s Under-19s.
Chelsea then gave him a contract running until 2030 before allowing him to join Celtic.
(Rumours swirl that the release clause inserted on said contract is £85m!)
Connect the dots.
They aren’t trying to find somewhere to dump a player they don’t particularly fancy.
They’re attempting to develop one they very much do.
Mheuka has also explained why Celtic appealed to him. He spoke to his friend and England youth teammate Mikey Moore (on loan at Rangers last season) about Glasgow before making the move, and ultimately decided Celtic represented the right next step for his own development.
Now it’s about taking that opportunity.
Could Celtic have landed a wee gem?
There is suddenly serious competition in Celtic’s attacking department.
Camilo Duran has impressed me enormously. Kasper Høgh gives Celtic another completely different option, while Yang’s transformation under O’Neill has been one of the stories of the season so far.
Mheuka isn’t entitled to anything.
That’s exactly why I’ve enjoyed his introduction.
He’s behaving like he knows that.
No reputation. No expectation that being a Chelsea prospect automatically earns him a Celtic jersey. Just get onto the park and make the manager think twice about leaving you out next time.
That’s how young players force their way into teams.
O’Neill even acknowledged that Celtic don’t yet fully know what they’ve got. Scouting reports and footage can tell you plenty, but throwing a youngster into the reality of Scottish football tells you something different.
So far, Mheuka looks like he wants the challenge.
There’s a long, long way to go and there will inevitably be difficult afternoons for an 18-year-old adapting to senior football.
But ability combined with attitude and application?
Now you’ve got something worth working with.
Perhaps Chelsea already know exactly what they’ve got in Shim Mheuka.
After two brief glimpses in green and white, Celtic supporters are beginning to find out too.
And I’ve got a feeling we might enjoy finding out.
