APPROPRIATELY for an attack-minded left-back with an array of assists to his name, Emilio Izaguirre is talking about putting a cross in a box. It is a press conference to announce the Honduran’s merited place amongst the nominees for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award, but who was his own choice for the league’s best player?
Well, had the competition’s rules not forbid him voting for any of his team-mates, his uncontroversial answer would have been Gary Hooper. But eventually the identity of the recipient of his vote becomes clear. It goes to Nikica Jelavic, and the respect which Izaguirre feels for the Croat’s abilities is a refreshing antidote to the climate of turbulence and tribalism which has descended between the Old Firm this season.
“I wish I could have voted for Gary Hooper because he is a great team-mate and a great person,” the Honduran said. “But instead, I voted for Nikica Jelavic. I have played against him and I have watched him playing for Croatia and I think he is a great player and I also admire him as a person. I like his attitude. I am never going to lack respect for a player simply because of a rivalry or because of the team he is playing for.”
While Celtic’s scouting department and Neil Lennon deserve their share of the praise for the inspired start which Izaguirre has had to life in Scotland, a vote of thanks also goes to a higher power. Izaguirre points his two index fingers heavenward when he enters the field of play at the start of each half, a testimony to the Christian faith which underpins his life. “I am not a very religious person but I do like going to my church back in my own country,” he said. “I go to the Christian church, that is the way I have been brought up.”
Izaguirre has no problems with playing on Sundays, even an Old Firm game on Easter Sunday, but he has hunted down a church near his home on the south side of Glasgow.
Divine intervention or not, in the space of 12 months the 24-year-old has become one of the more highly-prized footballers in Britain. But then his place on the PFA Scotland shortlist is not the first recognition he has received in the game. He was named the best player in the Honduran league whilst at Motagua in 2007, and on Scottish Cup semi-final day a brief trawl through his cup history brings up two domestic cup wins, two other final appearances, as well as appearances in the Fifa Under-20 World Cup and the real thing in South Africa last summer.
More accolades seem sure to follow, even if they are won with different clubs. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson are both thought to be admirers, and it would not be outlandish to suggest that Izaguirre may have the chance to join countrymen Hendry Thomas, Maynor Figueroa and Wilson Palacios in the English Premier League sooner or later.
“I am aware of the interest, but my mind is on Celtic,” Izaguirre said. “I am very grateful for everything they have done for me and until the end of the season I am only thinking about that. I couldn’t say everything has gone exactly the way I planned it, but I am living the dream here.”
What with Dougie McDonald-gate, a referee’s strike, McCoist v Lennon, the rise of Paul McBride QC and the fall of Hugh Dallas, this has been a crazy season in Scottish football. But few places have a more anything-goes ethos to their football than Honduras. One of the more madcap stories in world football this season surrounded his old Motagua team-mate, goalkeeper Donaldo Morales, who fired an air rifle at a newspaper reporter who had been overly critical of him in print, while in 1969 the Central American nation took part in a six-day so-called “football war” with El Salvador after rioting between fans of the two national sides following a qualifier for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
“Yes there was a small war ... but we don’t fight anymore,” Izaguirre says. “Now it is Costa Rica and Honduras who have the problems.”
Few things have been able to slow Izaguirre down this season, not the poor state of Scotland’s pitches, nor tiredness after a long season which began with the World Cup.
“He has been very consistent, a joy to watch,” Lennon said. “And he can be a very good defender when he puts his mind to it. On a difficult pitch up at St Johnstone the other night, he played the right way and he didn’t take any chances even though it isn’t in his nature. He is learning the culture of the game here as they all are.”
Whatever state Hampden Park is in this afternoon, Izaguirre will hope for a happier outcome than his last visit, when he was sent off in extra time as Celtic lost the Co-operative Insurance final to Rangers.
Izaguirre and Hooper are not the only names on the PFA Scotland shortlist in whom Lennon has an interest. The Irishman, who refutes suggestions of any bad blood with Craig Brown, a man who once tutored him on the Irish FA’s coaching courses, hinted that he could yet be tempted to make an offer for Kilmarnock’s Alexei Eremenko, a man who is also thought to be interesting Rangers and could be available from his Ukrainian parent club Metalist Kharkiv for around £700,000.
“I think that would be value for money,” Lennon said. “He is an intel- ligent player and we like those kinds of players. He has been the catalyst for the club’s very good season.”
The words could have applied to his Honduran left-back.
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