As Shane Duffy made the perfect start to life at Celtic with a headed goal in a 5-0 rout, Gary Br...
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has anyone actually read what he's been reported as saying?
"Listen, I called it," said Breen on
Off The Ball, "if he doesn't score double figures, I'll be amazed.
"For Celtic, I think it is a brilliant signing and he could go down as a club legend as they go for this 10-in-a-row season."
"This is a brilliant move for Celtic," he explained, "but the quality of player he is playing against now will be a big concern for Ireland.
"He is not going to be up against quality centre-forwards. There is no centre-forward in Scotland who would play in a Premier League team. None.
"He is going to be playing against lesser quality and that is a concern."
"I think it is a lazy assumption that he won't be able to play a high defensive line," he said. "It is just a different challenge for him. If you're asking me can he do it, well I believe that he can.
"You have to consider the context of those games which were effectively pre-season for him. I'm telling you this from experience, centre-halves by their very nature take longer to get their movements right.
"Look at the size of him then too, it will take him games to get back fit. Duffy and the likes of Richard Dunne who was tipping the scales at 14, 15 stone, he was always going to be sluggish without games played."
"If you consider that he has played in the Premier League," noted Breen of Duffy, "he was playing against top-class strikers there all the time. He can cope against these players.
"He might pick up a few bad habits [in Scotland], not because he is lazy but that he isn't up against quality centre-forwards.
"Even the likes of Virgil van Dijk came down to Southampton from Celtic with dreadful habits. He wouldn't get into the right positions quickly enough because he didn't have to with Celtic."
Hyperbole? Nope, just an honest opinion. Breen hasn't said Celtic are pish, he's said our league is a lower standard and that is fair enough.
What he may have missed is that Celtic will play in Europe and that may negate the premier league loss of competition. Shame that isn't champions league of course, but bar that was Breen offensive? Not for me.
Double figures centre half? Take that!