So, Nir , Yet

 Broadsword gives us the story so far on Nir Bitton

I was reliably informed during the course of the week that this weekend’s match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle may be the 100th time Nir Biton/Bitton (I’ll go with the latter because that’s what’s on the back of his tap) plays for Celtic. This seems like a lot of games for a guy who signed for us in August 2013 from FC Ashdod for around £700,000. He was, in the main, unknown to many of us – although some of us are now studying the other members of Dudu Duhan’s stable to see what the summer may bring our merry way…

So, back to the task in hand – 100 games for Bitton; let’s start with his background. When he signed for us it was not his first involvement in British football. Big Nir was very much in the thoughts of Manchester City the year before. If you think I’m properly at it, then…

This was not some random photo taken as played a game of fives with his mates, he actually did play a couple of friendlies for Roberto Mancini’s team during an Asian preseason tour. Dedryck Boyata also played on the same tour. Nir also had a week’s training with City and to be quite frank there are mixed reports. Some indicate that Man City were keen to do a deal but the work permit situation, given that he had played so few games for Israel at that point, meant that they didn’t have a hope in hell of getting him. The tag ‘new Viera’ was being used at this time; perhaps the actual Viera, who works for City, decided ‘naw, he’s no me’. Anyway, that one fell on its arse but there was more to come, for Roberto Mancini was not his only admirer on these shores. Andre Villas Boas wanted him at Spurs. Similar difficulties around the work permit scuppered this one before it got going – Bitton didn’t even get to squeeze a free holiday out of them. There was also mention of Marseilles being interested. In short, for a young man from a relatively unknown and untested footballing culture, he was very well thought of.

He remained at Ashdod and, if the YouTube footage is anything to go by, it was too easy for him. He was clearly sticking out, not just because he is of a similar altitude to a giraffe, but due to his touch, passing range, ability to score from distance and overall quality as a footballer. Now, there has been much made lately over the ‘recruitment’ policy at Celtic i.e. we take whoever Man City don’t want getting skelfs or a special from the aforementioned Dudu (Colin Kazim-Richards, Rami Gershon, Efe Ambrose &Kayal if memory serves). That relationship in particular is worthy of examination in its own right but I think it worked to our advantage here.

August 2013. Celtic have just beaten the sheep-slaughtering Shakter Karagandy. We were 2-0 down after a horrible first leg and managed to win 3-0 at Celtic Park. It was a brilliant game to be at. However, it also happened on the 28th of the month when the transfer window closes. Celtic knew for definite that they were in the Champions’ League group stage (oh how I miss those days) and there was some money available to boost the squad. There was a Wanyama sized hole in the squad; somebody thought the magic could happen again so we went down the ‘promising potential’ route with Bitton and I’d say I could see where the club were coming from. At the time I wanted a more significant outlay on a more established player, especially as we were then drawn with Barcelona, AC Milan (the mob who want into the CL because of who they are and not because they are any good now) and Ajax. Bitton’s first major impact came in the Ajax game at Celtic Park where he came on as a sub, quickly deduced that Ajax are a bunch of fuds, and attempted some emergency surgery on Thulani Serero and was ordered off. I vaguely remember a discussion in the days after it when one of my pals, in a stunning moment of sobriety, offered that we would miss Bitton in Amsterdam because he was looking to be a tidy player who could hold on to the ball and offer the defence some protection. Now, I’m not suggesting that Bitton’s suspension was the central reason behind our crap performance in Amsterdam but a player who had indicated the aforementioned qualities would have been pretty handy in that situation. Overall, in the early days I thought that we had possibly unearthed another gem. I remember seeing big Nir in Byres Road one afternoon, and after coming to terms with how freakishly tall and angular he is I started to think what he might look like in a Southampton or Swansea strip…

He went on to amass a total of 20 appearances in his first season. Personally, I thought he started to struggle a bit. He looked surprised by the pace and intensity at times. When a game had a physical edge to it then it was hard to gauge if he was going to cower or overdo it. In saying that the signs were there of a nice, languid and graceful player who could develop into something worth having.

The second season saw him become much more involved in the first team picture. 49 appearances all in. What was the reason for the rise? A new manager? Squad changes? Injuries? Change of formation? Well, probably a combination of all of them if the truth be told. Ronny Deila’s 4-2-3-1 formation was put in place from day one and Nir was, and since has been, viewed as one of the ‘2’ midfielders who protect the defence as well as feed in to the ‘3’; in theory. He wasn’t the preferred option in the initial stages. Mulgrew, Johansen and Brown were the favourites however once opportunity allowed him in to the side he wasn’t of a mind to relinquish his spot. At the time of writing this is a period of much criticism and scrutiny of Ronny Deila; whether he is the long term incumbent of the Celtic’s manager job is not for debate but I do think he merits praise for not only putting Bitton into the team but by trusting him and sticking by him. I am cautious to say that Bitton developed under Deila last season as he had shown quality under Neil Lennon, I would suggest that the increase in game time meant that he got more of a chance to show what he had on offer. There were some stunning moments – the goal against Dundee, the ‘Zidane’ turn against Ryan Christie (I would be bringing that up in training, although I’m not sure if it would be heard over the other 33456342545 midfielders at Lennoxtown) and the through ball to Griffiths against St Johnstone – always worth a wee watch. The highlight for me was the game at home to Inter Milan. He was equal to anything they had in the centre of midfield that night – he was tenacious in the tackle, composed and accurate with his distribution and helped to settle the team after a pretty calamitous start. I know someone, who knows someone, who knows nobody, who knows somebody else and they told this elaborate chain of people that Southampton had a couple of scouts at that game. They were there to perform measurements on Van Dijk as well as have a look at Guidetti. They spent most of the game talking about Bitton.

Don’t get me wrong there were also games when you wondered if he was on the sauce or had just woken up but overall I was encouraged with what I had seen. He always wanted to play football in a pleasing manner and that was something our team badly needed early on in that season. His fan club down South seemed to be growing and there were rumours that Sunderland had made an enquiry. Bitton was asked about this by a member of the press, this was his response:
“sometimes it is better to play for Celtic than at the bottom of the Premier League. Right now I am in the right place. Maybe in the future you never know.”

He has since signed a 5-year contract with Celtic which means he loves it here or we are going to get some cash for him in the near future.

So, has this current season done much for him? Or has he upped it for us? Well, from a statistical point of view he has 10 goals (8 for Celtic and 2 for Israel) which is very reasonable for a defensive midfielder. In saying that I probably would have scored against Hamilton a few weeks ago. His finish at Tynecastle was composed and there have been some encouraging moments like his goals at Rugby Park and Ajax where he finished well. I like his goal against Malmo as it showed he is capable of using his physicality to properly hurt teams – he also did this in Sweden but Willie Collum’s Serbian cousin wasn’t impressed for some reason. That was about the only thing he did in that game though and that takes me on to the area for concern. He should be controlling and directly influencing games more than he currently does. The other week he was a tourist at Pittodrie; and this isn’t the first time. The one thing holding him back from pushing on and becoming an outstanding player, in my opinion, is that when he’s in a tricky contest he doesn’t always step up and meet the challenge. He’s yet to really dictate a game and exert the kind of control that, say, Wanyama or Ki, could. I mention these two deliberately as I think this is the sort of career path he wants to follow. I could be wrong and when he was serving in the IDF he was chanting about Paul McStay and Peter Grant? Qarabag away gave more than a fleeting glimpse of the kind of disciplined and, dare I say, inspirational, performance that he is hopefully capable of in the bigger games. I would say that this season has seen some positives but has it made him more of a rabbit-killer or is he part of a more systematic problem whenever this current team find themselves in a spot of bother?

Looking forward, if he can become a more imposing player then I think we either have a fantastic player or a fantastic bank transfer being made. At the moment there’s a very tidy, composed and capable player – he could be something very special but can he fulfil that potential which had the likes of Manchester City casting lustful glances? Viera or Vata? Only time will tell.

Well done on the ton big man.