It was the dream move, the Celtic fan returning to guide the club to a historic ten in a row. That is what Shane Duffy would have been hoping when he arrived at Parkhead, on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer of 2020. It goes without saying that there were high hopes amongst the supporters as the Republic of Ireland international was a Premier League-proven centre-back.
It did not take long though for Duffy’s spell to turn into a nightmare. While easy to forget, he did make a good start at Celtic. But his form would fade away quickly and mistakes started to creep into his game, as he did not look like the right fit in the Hoops’ possession based system of football.
Eventually, he was out of the starting XI and Celtic went on to endure one of the most disappointing seasons in their history.
Duffy has enjoyed a solid time at Brighton & Hove Albion this season though and has admitted that his spell at Celtic was the low point of his career. As reported by The Argus, the defender said:
“I think if you speak to the majority of footballers, there are low points in your career, and that was mine. You’ve just got to have the mental strength to come out of it and bounce back and believe in your ability, and that’s what I’ve done.”
Duffy makes honest admission about time at Celtic
Sometimes, things just don’t work like you would hope. Surely when Duffy arrived, he would have hopes of being a 10IAR hero for Celtic. It did not go that way but all we can do is move on.
Celtic have enjoyed quite a turnaround since then and now appear to have a solid centre-back pairing in the form of Cameron Carter-Vickers, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, and Carl Starfelt. Stephen Welsh has acted as the back-up option to the duo while Christopher Jullien is now back from injury as well, although he has not featured much.
On the other hand, Duffy has returned to Brighton & Hove Albion and enjoyed a career revival there. That is great to see and we can only wish him the best of luck moving forward.
This article was originally posted here