Celtic needed a late goal from substitute Luke McCowan to kick off their defence of the Scottish Premiership title with a 1-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead on Sunday.
The Scottish midfielder came off the bench to score a deflected strike from the edge of the box in the 87th minute, after Callum McGregor had a goal disallowed for handball earlier in the half.
Brendan Rodgers will be pleased that his side were able to claim all three points, instead of failing to break the deadlock, but will be expecting more from his team as the season goes on.
The Hoops looked too blunt in the final third for much of the clash with St Mirren, as they started the match with a front three of Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah, and Hyun-jun Yang.
Celtic are yet to replace Nicolas Kuhn, who left to sign for Como, with a new right-winger, as Benjamin Nygren has been brought in to play centrally, which may be something the club look to address in the coming weeks.
The Premiership champions may also look to address the centre-forward position before the summer transfer window slams shut, due to Idah’s performances.
Why Adam Idah should not start for Celtic
The Ireland international should not be a regular starter for the Hoops this season, unless he can turn his form around and prove that he has what it takes to be the main number nine.
As you can see in the graphic above, Idah put in a dismal display against St Mirren as a starter, missing three ‘big chances’ and failing to create a single chance for his teammates in 78 minutes on the pitch.
The former Norwich City striker, simply, did not make the most of the high-quality opportunities that came his way, crashing the crossbar from close-range with his best chance of the evening.
Idah’s output as a starter for Celtic in the 2024/25 campaign also left a lot to be desired. The Hoops attacker only scored six goals in 19 starts in the Premiership in his first full season at the club.
Appearances
19
16
Minutes
1,352
357
Goals
6
7
Minutes per goal
225
51
Assists
0
1
As you can see in the table above, the Irishman scored more goals in roughly 1,000 fewer minutes as a substitute than as a starter in the Scottish top-flight.
These statistics suggest that Idah is far more suited to coming off the bench against tired defences, using his physicality and positioning to exploit defenders who are not as sharp as they were earlier in the game.
Rodgers has a problem, though, because this means that the Hoops need to sign a new starting-calibre centre-forward in order to allow Idah to play the role of super sub this season.
The Scottish Sun recently reported that Celtic sent scout Paul Tisdale to watch Hammarby against Charleroi in a Conference League qualifier, and they picked out three players who may have caught his eye.
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One of the stars The Scottish Sun suggested as a possible transfer target for the Scottish giants was Hammarby centre-forward Jusef Erabi, who they add was linked to Celtic in the January transfer window.
Why Celtic should sign Jusef Erabi
The Hoops should part ways with the reported £4m fee that it would take to snap up the Swedish marksman before the end of the summer transfer window, because it would solve Rodgers’ Idah problem.
Erabi is a promising young striker, at the age of 22, who would come in as an exciting prospect for Celtic, although he has yet to really explode as a consistent goalscorer.
Supporters may see his return of 29 goals in 93 matches for Hammarby and wonder if he would be the main number nine that the team need to send Idah to the bench.
The Sweden U21 international, who was described as a “powerful and prolific” striker by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has underlying statistics that suggest that he could come in to be an upgrade on Idah as a starter for Celtic.
Since the start of the 2024/25 campaign, the former Norwich academy graduate has only scored 13 goals from 14.66 xG for Celtic in the Premiership, which shows that he has not been clinical enough in front of goal.
The three ‘big chances’ that he missed against St Mirren were further proof that Idah is not efficient enough in front of goal, and that is why Erabi could come in to solve the club’s problem with the Irish forward.
xG
10.68
Goals
12
Shots on target
27
Chances created
16
Assists
3
Successful dribbles
27
As you can see in the table above, the Swedish striker has outperformed his xG by 1.32 since the start of the 2024 Allsvenskan campaign for Hammarby.
Erabi has also averaged 1.18 successful dribbles per 90 and 1.93 fouls won per 90 in the league in 2025. Idah, meanwhile, averaged 0.53 successful dribbles per 90 and 0.63 fouls won per 90 in the Premiership last season.
These statistics suggest that the £4m-rated star has the potential to offer a bigger presence in the centre-forward role than Idah for the Hoops, as he has the mobility and strength to burst past defenders with the ball, whilst also being able to hold off players to win fouls.
Overall, the 22-year-old starlet could thrive in a Celtic team that creates enough chances to make the most of his clinical finishing, to help him finally explode as a regular goalscorer, and he has the attributes to offer more to the team as a complete number nine.
Celtic can drop Yang with move for "top-level talent" who earns £150k-p/w
Brendan Rodgers could drop Hyun-jun Yang with a move for this reported Celtic target.
1 ByDan EmeryAug 5, 2025
Therefore, Rodgers could solve his Idah problem by reigniting the club’s January interest in Erabi to bring him in as the new starting striker for the Hoops.