JAMES FORREST is a winger who is not great at crossing a ball and doesn’t score many goals.
He turns 25 in July and is closing in on 200 games for Celtic – a figure he is now unlikely to reach – and yet to be brutally honest this is someone who has not really got any better since being named Young Player of the Year four seasons ago. If anything he’s regressed.
Forrest has talent. Of that there is no doubt. It could also be argued that he had just done enough to earn a new deal with Celtic, although a four-year contract seemed excessive, but the player has turned down this generous offer and his Celtic career is coming to an end.
There will be supporters angry he had the temerity to knock back any sort of a deal, although this is his life and what he does is entirely up to himself, and a few others will be frustrated at losing one of their own who on the rare occasion looked a world beater.
But once any anger dies down, the overall reaction will be a collective shrug of the shoulders by a support who have waited and waited for this not so young footballer to come of age. Let’s be honest, this is hardly Kenny Dalglish leaving for Liverpool. It’s not even Joe Ledley joining Crystal Palace.
Personally, I have always been something of a supporter but that became a more tricky position every time he failed to get the ball into the box even when he beat his man for pace.
Forrest recently has been Ronny Deila’s Plan B. At Aberdeen a couple of weeks ago, on came the winger as a substitute to try and get something for this team and apart from running the ball out of play, hardly got a touch. It has become a recurring theme.
It is hard to get away from the feeling that Forrest has a bit of a cheek. After all, over his six seasons as a first-team regular, he still had not mastered the art of picking out a team-mate with a cross.
And according to one group of stats, he has 27 assists to his name over his entire career. Alan Thompson could almost reach that figure over a season. Compare Forrest to Kris Commons for example, who plays in the same position, and there is really no comparison when you look at what the two have actually contributed to Celtic.
He might get a move to the English Premier League. He is available for next to nothing – he has less than a year left on his deal - and even the smaller clubs have enough cash to offer him double what he would earn at Celtic and be able to write it off if the gamble doesn’t work out.
But Aiden McGeady failed with Everton, Garry Hooper didn’t make it at Norwich City, and both are far better players.
Forrest has been given plenty of opportunities to become a great Celtic player but he has fallen well short. It is best that he is on the way out so the likes of Aiden Nesbitt, Ryan Christie, Scott Allan and Patrick Roberts can get a chance. Deila wants young players who will improve, not take up space in an already too big squad.
And, sadly for Forrest and all of those who have coached him, he won’t be missed. Forrest told Deila that he wants to pursue other opinions. There won't be a shortage of volunteers willing to drive him to the airport.
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