Celtic flop Albian Ajeti scores first goal in 381 days as striker insists return to form is “coming slowly”
CELTIC flop Albian Ajeti reckons he's slowly finding his feet once again after bagging his first goal in over a year.
381 days after striking for the Hoops against Real Betis, he finally broke his duck for Sturm Graz.
The 25-year old, who cost the Hoops over £555,000 per goal, is spending the season on loan at the Austrian club after falling way down the pecking order under Ange Postecoglou at Parkhead.
Ajeti was brought to Celtic in a £5million deal by then-boss Neil Lennon in the summer window of 2020, penning a four-year contract.
He moved to Glasgow after enduring a torrid year-long spell at West Ham where he failed to find the net.
His fortunes didn't improve much at Celtic, however, and he finished his first season with six goals from 30 games as the Hoops failed to secure ten in a row.
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The arrivals of Kyogo Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis pushed Ajeti out of the picture last season following Postecoglou's appointment, and he was restricted to just 7 Premiership appearances last term.
The writing looked on the wall all summer for a Parkhead exit, but it wasn't until the final day of the transfer window when he finally left.
Ajeti joined Sturm on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
It's been a slow burner of a start for the Swiss international and Sunday's clash against Austria Vienna was just his third appearance.
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But he finally made it count as he opened the scoring 14 minutes into a 3-0 win for his side.
He told Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung: "It was a great team goal, it played out very nicely.
"I could have done one or two things more today, but it's coming slowly.
"My legs are getting fitter. I'm happy that I was able to score the first goal for Sturm.
"But the three points are much more important."
While Ajeti and Sturm Graz prepare to face Lazio in the Europa League on Thursday, his parent club are readying themselves for Champions League action.
The Hoops are away to RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.
Ahead of that game, Reo Hatate has vowed to make amends after his howler led to the dismissal of skipper Callum McGregor against Motherwell on Saturday.
The midfielder's slack pass sent Well sub Ross Tierney clean through on goal before he was hauled down by McGregor, who was sent off.
Hatate has revealed he apologised to his captain and is now focused on Leipzig.
He said: “I said sorry to Callum after the game.
“It was good for me to score, but then I made a mistake so it was not so good.
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“I now have to learn from my mistake.
"How we play depends on us. We have to focus on each game and do our part.”
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