'I almost signed for Celtic and was an ex-teammate of Adam Idah - this is what his biggest problem is'

Adam Idah has a ‘big problem’ to overcome if he is to become Celtic’s talisman, but has been told to ‘keep believing’ by an ex-EPL striker and one of his former international teammates.

The 24-year-old completed a reported £9.5million move from Norwich City in the summer, following an extremely impressive stint on loan at Celtic Park in the second-half of last season, where he scored eight league goals in 15 appearances. He has struggled for regular game time since joining the club permanently though, starting just 16 of the club’s 32 Scottish Premiership games.

He was restored to the Hoops starting XI in the 5-0 win over St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park at the weekend, and played his part in the team’s second goal before notching the third goal himself as Celtic took control of the game before the half-time break.

Shane Long was capped 88-times by the Republic of Ireland and played for them at the Euros in 2016. Cr: Getty Images. | Getty Images

However, the Republic of Ireland international will be desperate to play a more prominent role in the weeks to come as the club chase a sixth domestic treble in nine years - and his former international teammate Shane Long has urged him to remain patient.

“He's still quite young,” said Long. “I've played with him and know his ability. He's strong, he's a link-up player and he's a good finisher so it will happen for him. He just needs to keep believing. I think when he does start games, he doesn't light it up as much as he probably should to really cause the manager a few issues, headaches about picking the starting team.

“It's when he comes in off the bench that he's really effective so it's a nice weapon for the manager to have. I had it for a while in my career as a super sub. You're kind of in a catch-22 where you want to come on off the bench and do well, but you don't want to do that thing of always coming off the bench to do well. Idah has done okay at Celtic, he’s got 23 goals in 65 appearances. I think the biggest problem for him is Daizen Maeda. He's flying at the moment and it's strong competition.”

Long told BoyleSports, who offer the latest Irish Premier Division Odds & Betting, about his own regret at not playing for Celtic during his career, revealing he almost twice signed for the club while playing in the English top flight. The ex-Reading and Southampton striker scored 56 English Premier League goals during his career, but admits he was tempted by Celtic more than once.

“The first time I was at Reading I ended up leaving to play for West Brom under Roy Hodgson, but Celtic were in for me too,” said Long. “I was very close to going to Celtic, there was also a transfer window when I was at Southampton when I wasn’t really playing in which I felt I needed to leave to play football, Celtic were in for me then too.

“It was very close to happening but there was an injury and I broke back into the team. The move didn’t happen in the end and a good friend of mine is now one of the owners and he always asks me why it didn’t happen. Obviously being Irish and having that opportunity was really appealing to me but sadly it never happened.”