Ivorian international Vakoun Issouf Bayo became Celtic’s third attacking recruit of the January window. But this one’s a keeper. Not literally a goal tender. A four-year contract – he belongs to Celtic! How quaint.
It has been a rapid rise for the 21-year-old from Daloa (is that the Ivorian Alloa?). Two years (but less than 600 minutes) in the Tunisian top flight (and no goals) was followed by a free transfer to the Slovakian League and DAC Dunajska Streda. The club has an unbroken administrative history of 115 years but many name changes. Averaging around 4000 attendance per home game, Bayo leaves them 2nd in the Slovak league thanks to a highly productive goal return.
It is undoubtedly a unique path Bayo beats to Celtic.
Unlike fellow recent recruits Burke and Weah, Bayo is an out and out striker with minimal time spent in wide forward areas. The YouTube reels show a player happy flinging himself at headers. He will therefore provide much needed variation to the Hoops attack. He hasn’t taken any penalties yet as a professional, if you were wondering. And whisper it – no recorded injuries on Transfermarkt!
His 2 caps for Ivory Coast have both come in African Cup of Nations qualification. He has amassed 15 minutes in those ties.
In terms of what type of player he is, the Daily Record spoke to his manager to find out in quite an insightful article (I know, right!). It sounds like there will be rough edges to knock off and at 21 that is to be expected. He also mentions his disciplinary record. In just over 35 matches of football, he has accumulated 10 yellow cards and 1 red. That’s 0.31 cards per 90m, more than any other Celtic squad member. Just as well Scottish referees give Celtic players the benefit of the doubt. He also had a 1 match “Suspension through the sports court” but I cannot find details of what that entailed.
And what of the numbers? Well, like Burke and Weah, he has played less than a full season’s worth of matches in his career. 3192 minutes is the equivalent of 35.47 matches.
In that short career he has a mighty 22 goals and 9 assists.
He is scoring at the rate of 0.62 goals per 90m and assisting at 0.25 per 90m. Overall his Scoring Contribution of 0.87 per 90m would be slightly below Edouard (0.91) and Forrest (0.90).
His scoring rate for the Slovakian outfit of 1.09 Scoring Contribution per 90m is very similar to that of Alfredo Morelos for HJK Helsinki prior to his move to Scotland (1.11 per 90m). In the UEFA rankings used to determine allocations to European competitions Slovakia is ranked 32 and Finland 38.
The Bhoy Bayo comes European ready (I’m stretching this a bit) after 3 goals in 3 ½ Europa League ties. He already has a senior hattrick to his name in the Slovnaft (yes, really) Cup.
Amido Balde or Gary Hooper? Both cost similar amounts to Bayo and we don’t really know what we are going to get. With Weah a very mature 18-year-old also covering the centre, it looks as if Bayo will get time to settle in for the Summer campaign.
All the best to the Bhoy Bayo!
From what little footage there is of Bayo I would say he’s a direct runner more in the style of Watt than any of those mentioned.
Looks comfortable shooting off either foot and decent in the air.
These are attributes we have been lacking for some time.
Particularly the latter.
As usual it remains to be seen if he can transfer his form from the Slovakian League to the Scottish game?
I have read quite a few posts across the net about delivery from set pieces?
The answer to that conundrum lays with Leigh Griffiths.
This of course could mean a change in setup going from the 3 up setup to the more traditional 2 up.
Brendan favours 3-5-2 so it will be interesting to see if he might alternate depending on who we are playing?
Ie teams that are weak against height or from set pieces go more direct to the big man ,wee man setup.
Interesting times ahead in terms of striking options as we appear to have all bases covered now.
Thanks as always Duncan. Attacking options now bewildering in a good way. Common denominator pace, peer and directness. Exciting.
This a hunz site, aye?
I welcome intelligent interaction Bobby so probably not. Good luck in your search though.
Stats are very important and are used extensively in real professional football
Bayo has vital stats for any striker goals ,heading ability and as far as Celtic is concerned is aggression
Something we obviously lack in most of our front players .
Time will tell if referees, who have been briefed on that aggression will treat him like Morelos or not
If l’ubomir moravçik backs the move then there’s no worry about this signing!!
That’s a good point!
From the limited YouTube footage I saw then if you squint up your eyes a bit he certainy leaps in the air like Big Pierre! he could be the solution to our current problem where we have guys getting to the opposition byline and find that a low cross or cut back is the only option. Hope he (ventually) gets a run of consecutive games in the team.