Celtic cult hero Frank McAvennie admits he sees himself in Julian Araujo.
The outspoken former striker, who scored 50 goals in 103 appearances for the Parkhead club, loves what Bournemouth loanee Araujo has brought to the party since joining in the January transfer window.
McAvennie insists the right-back, who missed Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Dundee United through injury, would not have let Celtic go down without a fight at Tannadice.
"The Mexican [Araujo], I don't know where he was that weekend because I like him," McAvennie said.
"He's got fire in his belly and he doesn't pull out a tackle.
"He loves the crowd. He loves having a banter with the fans, away fans even! And that's a bit off my own heart. I love that.
"He'll never pull out a tackle and he wouldn't have let that happen at the weekend because he'd have been fighting with everyone. So that's the kind of thing we need."
For more fight and physicality, McAvennie would have recalled central defender Maik Nawrocki from his loan spell at Hannover in January.
"We need somebody," he explained. "Listen, I'm a big fan of the boy [Maik] Nawrocki. I don't know if he's getting a game and all that, but I like him.
"And I thought they should have brought him back. You know, I really do. I think he's a good player.
"And, you know, we've been relying on the same boys, and it's not working. Nobody's scared of Celtic now. The boys that they've got, they're not scared of them. And that's not a slant on any of the managers. The management team, it's just... The recruitment's been terrible.
Read more:
"Who's bringing the players in? It's been awful. And then when injuries didn't help, you know. When you've got [Alistair] Johnston, [Cameron] Carter-Vickers, Jota.
"I mean, that's three players, and [Arne] Engels that would have been in the team right away. So that's four players that you've got on the team that would make it a better team.
"I just think we've not prepared for anything. We've never prepared for anything in the summer. You know, and you can't go out and do what Celtic have always done, wait to see if we qualify for the Champions League.
"We might not get that chance this year. Because we might be in the Europa League. But yeah, listen. It is what it is.
"That team's not good enough at the moment. I know there's a lot of injuries, but... No, if we're going to lose the league, lose it with somebody that's [got] a bit of a fight. I looked at the team, and I thought, they've given up."
One rare successful Celtic recruitment story in recent times is Benjamin Nygren. Signed from Nordsjaelland at the beginning of last summer, the Swede had scored 19 goals in a debut season unrivalled by any of his fellow arrivals.
Still, McAvennie would play the enigmatic attack-minded midfielder further forward, given the current lack of a reliable No. 9.
"Put him [Nygren] up front," McAvennie said. "He's got an eye for goal. And just leave him up there. And then you've got... You're matching up in midfield, because if he doesn't score a goal, he doesn't do anything for us.
"So I would say, you know, he gets away, gives it away, bounces off him. I know it's a bad pitch, but it's not just in that game. He's been non-existent. He'll score two goals, he'll get Player of the Year this year!"
Frank McAvennie was helping to launch a campaign to build a statue of Lisbon Lion Jim Craig in Govan.
Share