- 4 months ago
- #celticfc
Football writer Graham Falk is joined by Fotboll Sthlm's Anders Lingberg to discuss Celtic's new wingman Sebastian Tounekti, what to expect, his strengths and weakness and why the 'showman' will excite Hoops fans.
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00:00Hello and welcome back to the Scotsman Football Show as the dust begins to settle on an eventful
00:05deadline day in the Scottish Premiership. Whilst Rangers and Celtic were able to bring
00:10in a striker each as the clock ticked towards 11pm, Celtic were unable to get the desired
00:15striker that they hoped for, which leaves Brendan Rodgers with quite a job and scrambling
00:20in the free agent market for new recruits. But Celtic didn't end the day empty handed
00:24with the signing of Hammersby's Sebastian Tonekdi arriving for a reported fee of ÂŁ5.2 million
00:30just ahead of the window closing. But what type of player is the Tunisian international to give us
00:36the lowdown on Celtic's new recruit? I'm delighted to be welcomed by Swedish journalist Anders Lindberg
00:41from Football Stockholm. Anders, how are you doing? Are you alright? I'm just fine, how are you?
00:47Yes, not too bad. It was a bit of a late one last night so I'm slightly tired but we wouldn't do
00:52it any other way. Transfer deadline day is possibly my favourite thing to do as a journalist. But look,
00:58first and foremost we'll start. It's been a long process to sign Sebastian Tonekdi for Celtic.
01:04There's been interest for quite a while. Why do you think Celtic was so interested in signing
01:09the player and so insistent on bringing him to the club? I think it's definitely because he has
01:14like the x-factor that more or less every team needs and it's quite logic to me because Hammersby
01:22and Celtic are two dominating teams that they need a winger that can break down the defence and he's
01:31good in both the counter-attacks as well when they're defending low so he can bring a lot of quality to the team.
01:38In terms of the deal, like I say there was a couple of rejected bids to our knowledge reported
01:44that have been interested for a long time. To your understanding from the Swedish perspective,
01:49from the Hammersby perspective, how long have Celtic been looking at him and was there any competition
01:53for him other than Celtic? I don't actually know if there was another competition between
02:00Celtic and other clubs. Hammersby is a club that for like a couple of years ago they changed their
02:06strategy and they really develop young players and they work a lot of football data and they have
02:14sold another another couple of players here in the recent windows so they actually didn't want to sell
02:21him but what the report said and talking to the to the staff in the club is that he got the it was
02:30quite of a dream for him and they got an offer that they more or less couldn't refuse so that
02:36they didn't want to sell him but in that line they decided to let him go.
02:43When you're looking at the the data and the kind of way that they've signed players there with Hammersby
02:48there's a few clubs that have taken a very similar strategy. Now he's not been at Hamburg all that long
02:55but Hammersby is where he's really sort of flourished. What was the things that made Hammersby look
03:00towards signing him when he originally came? Yeah exactly. Myself I'm working both as a journalist with
03:07the reports but as well with the Football Analytics and Brighties Scout reports. So I actually had
03:15I knew who Sebastian Tenetti was even when he was in Norway and he was that kind of player that made an
03:21impact in how we assumed which was the club he he played for last year but they was in the in the bottom
03:30of the table they had to just avoid the irrigation so he's the kind of player that makes a great impact
03:38in a in a bottom team but if you put him in an improved environment like Hammersby he will do the same
03:45thing there and also develop and being even better. So it made a lot of sense when they signed him
03:51because they had sold another player in his position to Bundesliga Team Hoffenheim during that winter
03:58so they really needed that player that has the ex-factor that the Tenetti had and he had been great from
04:05from the start. He made him the gold in his debut and he's been good in more or less every game so he
04:13has had a development from more or less when he landed in Stockholm and that has taken him to
04:20Glasgow now. He's obviously went to like I say Hammersby because of his record that he had sort
04:26of lowered down the division but then he's gone to Hammersby and found a move very quickly towards
04:31Celtic and like you said before it was kind of one of his dreams to maybe go over and play in
04:36Scotland play for Celtic but it's maybe evidence of how well he's done at Hammersby obviously he's had
04:41that step up but how well has he done at Hammersby because his moves came quite quickly in football
04:47terms. Yeah exactly and he has been like one of the key players from them for from starts so he just
04:55get in from like the day one and make his impact to the team and Hammersby is a team that maybe been the
05:02most dominating team in Sweden and I would say that without him they wouldn't have that
05:09he like created some points for the team just by himself. He had had a little bit of criticism
05:18because he hadn't done that much points that some people think he might have but the other way around
05:25is that Hammersby have had some problems with their central attacker so some people think that he could
05:32improve by doing more points and the other one think that but he's doing great on his side and the
05:38other players doesn't take care and convert all the chances that he is creating so it's I wouldn't
05:45say that he has been a criticist but there have been like room of improvement and that is more or
05:51less the the little thing that is lacking. In terms of the kind of winger that's still getting,
05:58Nicholas Kuhn went to Como, he came from Rapid Vienna approximately I believe sort of 17-18 months ago,
06:06had a difficult first few months maybe but then flourished and it was really pivotal to Celtic last
06:12season. They brought in a couple of wingers over the summer and they're going to be kind of tasked
06:17with replacing maybe the numbers that he brought in and maybe adding even more potentially if they can
06:22but what sort of winger can Celtic expect? What will he bring to Celtic from what you've seen?
06:27He will bring attacking force in like every part of the game I would say. His best stats left the
06:36winger and the Hammelby plays the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 that Celtic can expect as well so I don't think he needs
06:44some like education or like a journey to get fit because it's season now in Sweden we play in from
06:52spring to like a calendar year so he has played I think it's like 20-25 games during this year so
07:01he's fit to just go right in and he's a left winger he often attacks deep so he will dribble as much.
07:11He's in the top of progressive runs in Sweden as well so there is a ball carrier and a wibbler
07:18that can both go in to the central part of the of the pitch and goes by shots himself but as well he
07:27often goes down to the short side and try to play in he more or less do as much goals as assists
07:35and he is involved in a lot of chances and he has we talked a little bit about the improvement of
07:41getting more points but he have been involved in quite much that haven't been like he doesn't
07:49get an assist or a goal for it but he's the one that has brought down the defense and created the
07:54chance so I think there is a little bit of one dimension more in that you don't just if you if
08:02you see the games the goals and assists there is a little bit more behind that so I think Celtic can
08:10expect a play that can go in more or less right away and will make impact and he has a great mentality
08:19as well and he's great just both on and off the pitch and in my first interview with him he he
08:25talked a lot of being a showman and I think Celtic will will enjoy watching him on the left wing.
08:32I wanted to ask about his personality because Celtic huge club huge personality um that's that has
08:40needed to succeed I think it's Celtic and needed to succeed in Glasgow but as you said before he's a
08:46he's a showman and I think every football fan likes someone who's a showman what why did he to your
08:51knowledge want this move so quickly and so fast? I think it's I wouldn't say it was like now or never
08:59because he's only 23 and I think nothing turns out that he would not be better than now but it I
09:06think it was like wow this kind of club wants me I really want to go there and so what I've been
09:12seeing in her is like he is pushing for the move because he really really wanted that
09:17um and when talking to him I think no one has any bad to say about him and he's been like this showman
09:24uh saying that he had he more or less described it that in modern football everything is so like by
09:32the books and there's tactics and strategy he wants to be like outside the box and I know that he talked
09:38a little bit about like Ronaldinho and those kind of players uh and that that's maybe a big uh a big
09:45person to talk about but he's like that kind of a player he wants the kids to enjoy seeing him and he
09:50wants to to be a good to the to the supporters uh but he also it's not like dribbling and it doesn't
09:58lead to anything he does his points as well uh and what I like about his mentality as well on the pitch
10:03is that he doesn't really care if he uh he get a foul or something like that he just tries and tries and
10:09tries so it's not this play that goes in a situation where he just gets angry and gets a yellow card
10:16because he and he get in a argue or something like that he will just like all right I get this
10:22free kick and then I will dribble you once again so he's got a great mentality both as a player and
10:28as a person I would say he's still just 23 which is a great age because his peak years are ahead of him
10:34and you touched before that he'd had a little bit of criticism for for some things a really small amount
10:39but from your perspective what do you feel that he needs to improve on and what do you think he can
10:44improve on by moving to a club like celtic uh I think there will be maybe a little bit of adjustment
10:51of course because going to the scottish league and in general scottish league but as well as celtic
10:56that is a big club there but the way that he took the step from the little child of a club of haugersund
11:03in norway to a big club in in sweden uh I don't think there should be any challenge or any worries about
11:10he didn't that he can't take that step in into celtic as well um so I would I would say the
11:17biggest thing for him is maybe to to value his chances a little bit better to just get these extra
11:23points uh I don't think that he's the player that will feel like pressure or something and I need to
11:29uh to show up directly because he would just try and try and try and he's so good that he
11:35he possibly will will just uh succeed as well uh but if it's like the little thing that it's uh
11:43maybe he can value a little bit better in the last thing just to get these extra points but
11:49there's not like he's great on this thing but this one is a big problem or or challenge for him
11:55he just needs to like step up in just another level to be um to be fit in the club like celtic but he's
12:03been in the um in the top side of sweden here and he uh tried the european games that might be
12:10played against belgium side the charlory and the norwegian side of rosenborough so
12:16i think he can improve or succeed even in the belief or celtic here because the role in the team is
12:22perfect for him and i think he can develop to to take big step even in celtic so i think you should
12:28more uh look forward to see him play than have like um and any uh worries about how
12:35will he perform there i think if you look at the fee just final question silica paid approximately 5.2
12:43million i haven't actually checked their bank account i'm not allowed to do that but we're
12:46reporting that we think it may be close to 5.2 million naturally the hope is that he gets even
12:52better and he's worth much more than that but um the player that they've got and the potential that he has
12:57is that good value for celtic and is also a good value for for hammerby i would say that uh when i
13:04saw him in uh in a weekend side this last year he was one of my favorite players in the norwegian league
13:10that could be realistic for swedish side to to buy because swedish and and the norwegian clubs nowadays
13:18sells for like this sounds to another european side and hammerby actually didn't really
13:26thought that he could sign him this winter but they asked the question and when it opened up
13:30they took it right away and i actually said in my scouting report that if you do like one or two good
13:37season he could be sold for approximately this kind of money so i i could saw that in front of me but it's
13:45get a lot faster than i made the thoughts uh so if he can improve even more i think you could
13:51get even more amount because then you will send sell him probably in his prime time in like two
13:57years or something like that so it could be it is good business for hammerby now because they only
14:02had him for like five six months and it could be a good business for celtic in in next step as well
14:08and this all sounds very very good if you're a celtic fan thanks very much for joining me i hope i
14:13hope it's sunnier than it is here the rain's just starting to come down here in glasgow but uh
14:17thanks so much for joining me appreciate it no problem no problem thank you
14:20thank you
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