Timothy Weah leaves Celtic under a cloud after choosing country over club

Liberian president George Weah had to abandon his office this week because of an infestation of snakes. There was cause to consider that his son, Timothy, might speak with a forked tongue of his own as he left Celtic on Friday afternoon.

Timothy Weah celebrated Celtic's title win at Pittodrie. Pic: SNS/Paul Devlin

Weah junior, pictured right, used his Instagram account to post a gushing tribute to the club, his team-mates and the Celtic support as he left Lennoxtown. Notable was his polite knifing of Neil Lennon: “The gaffer told me it is in the best interests of the team that I collect my things and go home rather than be a part of the game on Sunday so I’ll be on my way.”

All is not quite what meets the eye.

Having been named in Tab Ramos’ Under-20 USA World Cup squad on Friday afternoon, Weah was given the opportunity to play at the tournament as well as in Celtic’s Scottish Cup final at Hampden on 25 May. A compromise between the club and Ramos had been negotiated but it was Weah himself who told Lennon that he was not prepared to leave the USA training camp in Poland and return for the Hampden date.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of a club v country debate, what is clear is that Weah’s grand pronouncements of having been seduced by Celtic appear to have been for the benefit of his audience.

Indeed, the authenticity of his remarks might have been questioned as recently as Thursday afternoon when he told a delegation of Sunday newspaper journalists that one of the regrets of his father’s Ballon d’Or winning career was that he did not have the chance to play for Celtic. “He said that it was crazy here and he would have loved to have played for Celtic,” he offered.

Weah clearly feels that he has experienced quite enough of the club. He leaves with four goals to show from a loan deal that began in January but there was a sour note to the manner in which the curtain came down on his time at the club.

His decision to put country before club is in sharp contrast to former Celtic loanee Patrick Roberts. The English winger arrived on a loan deal under Ronny Deila and ended up staying for two and a half seasons – longer than some players stay after signing a permanent deal with a club.

In 2017 as Celtic chased a historic Invincibles campaign, Roberts eschewed the chance to go with England to the Under-20 World Cup finals, despite having played in every qualifying game to get them there.

At the time he cited a desire to take full benefit of a “once in a lifetime opportunity”.

Celtic were successful in their quest that day but it was not without cost for Roberts. England went on to win the Under-20 World Cup in his absence.

As Lennon, under a particular kind of pressure these past few months having stepped into Brendan Rodgers’ shoes, looks to make a little bit of history of his own at Hampden, such a lack of commitment on Weah’s part wasn’t something he was likely to indulge.

There was irony, too, in Weah’s final interview before he left. Having stated a wish to score at Ibrox and celebrate with a “Broony”, the longevity of Celtic’s longest-serving player might have been somewhat lost.