Celtic kicked off their 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign with a 4-2 win over Ross County on Saturday and supporters were able to see some of the new signings for the first time.
Who have Celtic signed this summer?
Central defender Maik Nawrocki started the match after his permanent move from Polish side Legia Warsaw and he was joined on the pitch by Hyun-jun Yang and Odin Thiago Holm for their debuts.
Hyeok-kyu Kwon arrived from Busan IPark during the summer transfer window and was an unused substitute on the day, whilst Australia international Marco Tilio missed out on the matchday squad due to an injury.
This means that Brendan Rodgers has made five additions to his first-team squad so far and there could be more on the horizon as the Hoops have recently been touted with an interest in West Ham United centre-forward Michail Antonio.
How good is Michail Antonio?
The £69k-per-week attacker has proven himself to be a reliable Premier League goalscorer for the majority of his time with the Hammers in England and could come in as an upgrade on Hyeon-gyu Oh for the Northern Irish head coach.
Some supporters may be put off by his unimpressive return of five goals in 33 top-flight games last season but the Jamaica international's form in Europe and in previous league campaigns suggest that he has the quality to be an excellent addition to the squad.
West Ham won the Europa Conference League at the end of the 2022/23 campaign and Antonio played a major part in their success. He averaged a phenomenal Sofascore rating of 7.43 across nine appearances in the competition as the 33-year-old marksman scored six goals and provided one assist.
Meanwhile, Oh scored seven times in 21 appearances for Celtic and failed to register a single assist. This came after the South Korea international managed 14 goals and three assists across 53 outings for Suwon Samsung Bluewings prior to his move to Scotland in January.
The 22-year-old striker averaged a Premiership Sofascore rating of 6.81.
This was the 21st-highest score within the Hoops squad and significantly worse than Antonio's rating of 7.43 in Europe, which would have placed him second for the Bhoys – only behind Jota (7.45).
West Ham's number nine may not have enjoyed a prolific 2022/23 Premier League campaign but he did rack up ten goals and eight assists in 36 top-flight clashes during the 2021/22 season, which was his third straight year of scoring ten league goals for the Hammers.
This suggests that Antonio – when you consider he was playing in a major European league – could be an excellent scorer for the Hoops if he can rediscover his best form, whilst his ability to assist his teammates on a regular basis could make him more useful than Oh in build-up play.
The former Nottingham Forest man, who teammate Thilo Kehrer claimed works "like crazy", would also be able to offer a level of physicality that the South Korean finisher is unable to.
Antonio won 1.5 aerial battles per Premier League match last term, whereas Oh only came out on top in 0.6 per Premiership game, which means that he could provide the team with an out-ball in European clashes when they may not be able to dominate possession.
Therefore, the 5 foot 10 gem could be an upgrade on the current Hoops striker in terms of what he is able to offer from a technical – in goals and assists – and physical perspective.
