Why Celtic shouldn’t hesitate to loan out Vakoun Issouf Bayo

According to BBC, Celtic striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo has attracted interest from fellow Scottish Premiership outfit St. Mirren, who are looking to sign the Ivorian international on loan for the 2020-21 campaign.

As per the source, St. Mirren boss Jim Goodwin has held talks with the Scottish champions to try and convince them into sanctioning a loan move for the 23-year-old following a failed bid to sign the out-of-favour Hoops frontman back in the January window.

Celtic managed Neil Lennon has admitted that St. Mirren’s offer is being taken into consideration, although a final decision on his future is yet to be made. (h/t BBC)

Celtic don’t need Bayo

Issouf Bayo made his move to Glasgow back in January 2019 after impressing at Slovakian outfit Dunajska Streda, where he scored 22 goals in 32 appearances. However, he has failed to live up to the burden of expectations at Parkhead, scoring only twice in 17 appearances across all competitions.

The 2-cap Ivorian international managed a paltry 8 league appearances for the Hoops in the 2019-20 Covid-curtailed campaign, clocking up a meagre 206 minutes of first-team football in the Scottish Premiership.

The striker’s progress at Celtic has been thwarted by recurrent injuries, with Bayo spending more time on the treatment table than on the pitch. What’s more disappointing is the fact that he failed to make several matchday squads last season even when he had been declared fit to play.

The arrival of Polish striker Patryk Klimala back in January has pushed Bayo further down the pecking order under Lennon, who largely relied on the talismanic Odsonne Edouard to lead the line in the previous campaign. 

Leigh Griffiths continues to be a trusted and experienced backup to Edouard. So it’s hard to see how Bayo would be able to enjoy enough regular playtime in the 2020-21 season. Furthermore, Celtic have also been linked with a loan move for West Ham striker Albian Ajeti, meaning the writing pretty much seems to be on the wall for the Ivorian.

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Verdict

To put things into perspective, it’s very clear that Vakoun Issouf Bayo doesn’t have much of a future at Celtic. And it hardly makes any sense for the champions to continue paying him the wages for doing next to nothing.

Still only 23, Bayo has plenty of time on his side to resurrect his career elsewhere. And a loan move to St. Mirren would help him rebuild his confidence after a lean patch at Parkhead. The Ivorian needs regular playtime to rediscover his goalscoring mojo and put all his injury issues behind himself, something that a loan move to Paisley could certainly offer. 

Hence, Celtic loaning out their forgotten striker should be a shrewd piece of business and a deal that works out perfectly for all parties involved.