Amido Balde ‘settling in’ at Celtic

AMIDO Balde feels the “positive energy” at Celtic is helping him find his feet in Scottish football.

Celtic's new striker Amido Balde shows off the new away kit, and told reporters he felt like a son of Celtic. Picture: SNS

Balde has only had 14 minutes of action in Celtic’s five competitive matches this season following his summer move from Vitoria Guimaraes.

But the 22-year-old showed signs of adapting to life at Celtic when he scored a well-taken winner in last weekend’s friendly victory over Liverpool.

“I feel a lot of human warmth and feel like I’m becoming a son of Celtic,” he told the club’s official website.

“I’m working hard to help Celtic and the fans have given me good vibrations to give me a good impression. I am thrilled to be here.

“I’m doing my very best and the time has already gone very fast. I’m happy to be surrounded by positive energy and that is why I chose Celtic in the first place.

“I also want to thank the manager for his support and I’m learning a lot every day from him.”

Balde’s goal in Dublin could put him in contention for a place in the team to face Aberdeen on Saturday lunchtime, hours before they fly out to Kazakhstan for the first leg of their final Champions League qualifier against Shakhter Karagandy.

“I felt very good as it’s always good for a striker to score a goal,” he said. “That’s my work and I was impressed that, despite it being a friendly game, it was full of supporters.”