Tony Cascarino scored over 300 goals in his career, but not many of them were at Celtic.
The London-born striker, who played 88 times for Ireland, was prolific for Millwall and Marseille in particular.
But when Liam Brady made him Celtic’s record signing in 1991, he was unable to make an impact, and is remembered as one of the great Hoops flops of that era.
So comparing his Celtic move to Alexander Isak’s £125m move to Liverpool may seem a little bit egregious on the face of it.
But that’s just what Cascarino has done, and he has his reasons.
Tony Cascarino at Celtic vs Alexander Isak at Liverpool
Isak hasn’t quite hit the heights since becoming the third-most expensive player in history.
Liverpool have struggled to cope with a huge amount of player turnover, with Isak, Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah all not looking like themselves.
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Tony Cascarino
Tony Cascarino – Credit: TalkSPORT
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Isak didn’t take part in pre-season with the Reds, leaving him behind fitness-wise – and Cascarino has reflected on joining Celtic in very similar circumstances.
He said on TalkSPORT: “I played my worst football the year I had no pre-season. The year I had a big transfer.
“That was at Celtic. I came in and lost form, and I wasn’t on top of my game at all in my early weeks of the season in Scotland.
“And Isak has turned up, looked like he’s had no pre-season at all, where he’s completely out of sorts, realised he’s lost a bit of belief, and he can’t do 90 minutes.
“You get affected mentally. I got affected at Celtic. Okay, it’s nothing like that, but I got affected as a record signing for Celtic.
“It affected me by the way I was playing. I couldn’t understand why I was so out of sorts in my performance.
“And when I’m seeing Isak on his heals, he’s not thought immediately. At Newcastle, he’d have made that run and got there, straight away. It would’ve been done naturally, he would’ve got there.
“But he’s been caught on his heels, and he doesn’t look like he can play with Ekitike at the moment. They’ve only played very few games together, but it’s a massive concern for Liverpool.
“If Liverpool had got the deal done earlier, and he’d have got there and been really up to speed by the season starting, I think we would’ve seen a different Isak.
“Now, it’s at a period, he’s getting lots of niggly injuries as well. He’s getting muscle injuries, Isak has been injured with minor things already. A number of times, not just once.
“I feel for him, because I don’t want to see any player that’s a record signing suffering.
“But we just look at his performance – I look also, and I’m watching him, thinking, ‘he’s just not doing the things he was doing at Newcastle.'”
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Former Celtic striker Stefan Scepovic
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Tony Cascarino’s Celtic career
Cascarino has often been frank in reflection of his Celtic spell; this isn’t the first time he has described it as the worst period of his career.
Brady had previously been his agent, and played alongside him for the Ireland national team.
Perhaps the most fitting representation of his Hoops career was his first goal – he was introduced from the bench against Hearts, and got sent off, all within the space of six minutes.
He also managed a goal at Ibrox, in a 1-1 draw in February 1992 – even the goal has now become infamous.
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