Martin O'Neill's main takeaway from Celtic's friendly against Sporting CP was not the defeat, but Camilo Duran's fit. The new signing came off the bench and scored within 5 minutes, making it 1-1 at Estadio Algarve before Sporting scored 3 times in the closing stages. O'Neill then pointed straight at the workrate and pressing that reminded him of Daizen Maeda.

O'Neill's verdict on Duran

"I'm delighted with him. I didn't think that he got a great deal of service with the changes that we made during the course of the game. Overall, I think he will be a really good acquisition for us," O'Neill told BBC Sport.

That was the safer line from a manager after a pre-season game, but his sharper remark was the one about Maeda. "We talked about Maeda being able to close players down. He might be the second Maeda in that aspect. He certainly has a willingness to do so," he said. "Once or twice it looked as if he was just going to break away and do some things during the course of the time that he was on. But, overall, I was very pleased with him. He wants to do well, he genuinely does."

The goal helps the case, because Duran did not just look busy, he scored one goal in the friendly after coming on. The comparison, though, is really about what he does without the ball. O'Neill's language was about closing players down and the willingness to work, which is the sort of praise Celtic fans usually reserve for players who make life awkward for the opposition first and ask questions later.

Maeda remains the reference point, and his current World Cup return is 0 goals in 3 appearances, with a 6.64 rating across those 3 games. That does not settle anything on its own, but it shows why O'Neill's comparison is framed around pressing and movement rather than finishing.

Celtic's next friendlies

O'Neill also framed the Sporting game as part of pre-season learning, saying senior players and young players alike can take fundamental lessons from it, including closing down, getting there first and recovering quicker. Celtic now have 2 more friendlies this month, against Rangers and Qarabag, before returning to competitive action against Dundee on 3 August.

The result will fade quickly enough. Duran's first serious impression may last longer, because it came with a goal and a manager openly comparing him to the forward Celtic have come to trust for work off the ball.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →