Amido Balde Joins Celtic.

Balde finally a Bhoy



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Here it is folks, the first signing of the new season has arrived in the form of Guinea-Bissau born Portuguese striker Amido Balde. Balde, who stands at 6ft 4' in height, was signed by 'The Bhoys' from Vitoria de Guimaraes, a mid table club in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.

Not much is known about Amido, but during the speculation period a quick look on popular website Wikipedia would suggest that he has been a Celtic fan from birth, and he was a gun runner for the IRA! None of this is true of course, just the usual happenings of prankster football fans looking to create a quick chuckle for the reader.

Balde himself though, in his first press conference as a Celt, has stated that he has on occasion watched the Celts in action, including the Champions League tie against Barcelona when Celtic triumphantly beat the mighty Catalans. Balde also said he had become a fan of Celtic 3 years ago, which wouldn't have been the best time to catch new Celtic fans coming off the end of a horrid Mowbray era, and the current Lennon era. Whether this is true or just playing to the fans remains to be unknown, so at the moment we should just take his word for it. However, I would suggest Portugal's prime SPL TV provider (if there is one) to finish their broadcasting of Celtic matches as their one and only viewer has left the country (I promise you I am a Celtic fan hahaha).

Balde, who was a product of one of Sporting Lisbon's branch teams abroad, has had his fair share of clubs as he has been sent on loan three times, such as in Belgium with Cercle Brugge. Nevertheless, Vitoria were the first team to have Amido in their possession. Balde made twenty seven appearances last season and scored nine goals. Not a great record on paper for the caliber Celtic and their fans would be after, but a great number of his appearances for Vitoria have been from the bench playing the last fifteen minutes or so.

Amido himself has claimed that there is more to him than goals and likes to assist other players. He likens himself to Emmanuel Adebayor of Spurs, which is not the 'target man' type Celtic fans have been screaming out for over the past few years. Amido will be judged by the Celtic fans on his quality on the field rather than the talking off it, but the fans are starting to grow tired of players who speak big but never present that on the pitch. I believe there will be more pressure added onto Amido's shoulders as Hooper looks to be leaving Parkhead and a new leading striker would need to be required. Although there is still a long time to go in the transfer window, so another striker can be signed if worst comes to worst.

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I spoke with a Portuguese football fan I know about Amido Balde. He said that Amido is a good target man and uses his height well. He also commends his good heading accuracy which was so vital for Celtic who used set-pieces to achieve most of their goals in the Champions League last season. Another thing that will amuse Celtic fans is that he said Amido scores most of his goals late on in matches, which Celtic were famously known for a few years back. The Portuguese man never raved about Balde's shooting though, saying it isn't bad, he also said he isn't the best dribbler which is his weakness and may be a problem in Champions League football.

So there we have it, Amido Balde at Celtic. He will wear the number seventeen jersey previously worn by Marc Crosas who still has Celtic deep in his heart. We hope this will be replicated by Amido Balde, and we wish him a successful Celtic career.