Attack-minded Celtic make Jeremy Toljan feel right at home

Jeremy Toljan is only one and a half games into his loan stint at Celtic but already appears to tick every box on the list of criteria Brendan Rodgers?had set in his pursuit of a ?new right-back.

Celtics style of play is similar to that of Jeremy Toljans parent club, Borussia Dortmund.

The 24-year-old Borussia Dortmund player followed up his solid debut display as a half-time substitute at 
St Johnstone last Sunday with an impressively composed and athletic contribution to the Scottish champions’ 2-0 home win over Hibs on Wednesday evening.

Toljan marked his first starting appearance with an assist for Ryan Christie’s opening goal, which set Celtic on their way to the victory which maintained their six-point lead over nearest challengers Rangers at the top of the Premiership.

The man who joined Dortmund from Hoffenheim for £8.3 million in the summer of 2017 looks every inch the adventurous modern-day full-back which Rodgers regards as essential to any team with aspirations of improvement, especially at European level.

Toljan, who had Champions League group-stage experience with Dortmund last season, is already relishing the prospect of Celtic’s Europa League last-32 tie against Valencia, the first leg of which takes place in Glasgow next Thursday.

The January deadline day recruit feels he has been able to make a smooth transition to his new environment as Celtic’s style of play reminds him of the approach adopted by his parent club, who currently lead the Bundesliga.

“It’s quite similar,” said 
Toljan. “In Dortmund, we had the ball most of the time and tried to attack and score many goals. Celtic is the same, so it’s no big deal for me settling down here.

“I have settled into it very quickly and everything is good so far. It has been an exciting few days since I signed but it’s a nice team, a good bunch of players, and they have accepted me right away.

“The style of play is exactly what I expected. I had seen some video clips of previous Celtic matches before I came over, so I knew what I should expect. The style of play at this club suits me well.

“In the two games I’ve played so far, I enjoyed being on the right with James Forrest [pictured] against St Johnstone and then with Timothy Weah against Hibs. In both games, I thought the connection between us looked quite good.”

Toljan had not featured for Dortmund in the first half of the season, having slipped down the pecking order behind Polish international Lukasz Piszczek and on-loan Real Madrid right-back Achraf Hakimi in new coach Lucien Favre’s plans.

But there have been no signs of any issues with match sharpness or fitness in the former German under-21 international’s first outings in a Celtic shirt.

“I think it’s normal when you haven’t played a lot that you need some games to adapt and get your fitness back in a good way,” added Toljan.

“But I was training all the time at Dortmund, I wasn’t injured and I think I’m fit enough to play games already. I felt good against Hibs. It was exciting to play at Celtic Park for the first time. I was looking forward to it since I came here and it was good. I’ve heard a lot about the atmosphere being crazy and I enjoyed it a lot.”

Toljan hopes he has already impressed sufficiently to hold on to the right-back slot ahead of Swedish veteran Mikael Lustig, who dropped to the bench in midweek as Celtic racked up a sixth straight clean sheet since returning from the winter break.

“Of course I think I can stay in the team now,” said Toljan. “I have the qualities to play and that’s always my goal. It was important to win again against Hibs and as a defender it’s always important to have a clean sheet.

“I think if you play as well as Celtic do offensively, scoring a lot of goals, it’s harder for the opponents to score against you.

“We have been doing a good job in defence and I think we are a team who defend against counter-attacks very well. Hopefully we can keep doing this and avoid losing many goals.”

While his stay at Celtic may only be brief, Toljan hopes to play a role in creating more history for the club under Rodgers. They continue their Scottish Cup defence at home to St Johnstone on Sunday as they seek to lift the famous trophy for the third consecutive season, something they have never previously achieved.

“I’ve been told about that,” said Toljan. “No Celtic team has done it before so hopefully we can do it. My ambitions here are positive and for a footballer, I think the cup games are the best. So I’m looking forward to the Scottish Cup and Europa League matches.”