Celtic star Adam Idah is 'unfit' and 'can't hold the ball up' - McAvennie

Celtic new boy Adam Idah needs to ‘step up and be the man’ after making the permanent move from Norwich City this summer.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, ex-Celtic and Scotland striker Frank McAvennie believes the 23-year-old ‘looked a lot sharper last year’ but has faith in manager Brendan Rodgers to get the striker to the required level.

Idah joined permanently for £9.5million following a successful six-month loan spell at Celtic Park last season but has only played 72 Scottish Premier League minutes since then.

Last season was the most prolific of his career, scoring nine goals in 19 appearances across all competitions for the Glasgow club.

Adam Idah not ready for Celtic yet

The striker is without a goal or assist in his last seven games for club and country having returned to Celtic following an international break with the Republic of Ireland.

He is also yet to complete 90 minutes of football since Celtic’s 2-0 Scottish Premier League defeat to Hearts in March.

“He doesn’t look fit, I think Brendan will get him fit”, McAvenne told Football Insider.

“He looked a lot sharper last year than what he does now, even when he was playing for the Republic of Ireland, I saw his touch, I thought he was not holding the ball up as well as he does.

“I don’t know if he’s got problems, or if there is other things happening, but he’s got to get his mind on it.

“There is no doubting how good he is, we all know how good he is and what he can do in a Celtic jersey and an Irish jersey.

“But he’s not got to step up and be the man for the Republic of Ireland, they’re not the best team in the world so as a striker he’s got to start holding up the ball, he can’t keep letting it bounce off him.

“He needs to help his teammates and I think he needs to do that at Celtic as well.

“He’ll need to get fitter and then we’ll see the best of him.”

In other news, Celtic fans wowed by what Paulo Bernardo did for Portugal U-21s.

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The post Celtic star Adam Idah is 'unfit' and 'can't hold the ball up' - McAvennie appeared first on Football Insider.