When reports emerged this week claiming that West Ham United had their sights fixed on an unnamed Japanese player at Celtic, you’d have been forgiven for assuming the mystery man was Daizen Maeda.
You know, the tireless centre-forward who scored 17 goals and set up ten more as Celtic snatched the Scottish Premiership title from under the noses of Hearts? The striker who cemented his name in Hoops folklore with an overhead kick for the ages against Old Firm rivals Rangers?
When it emerged that West Ham are targeting Reo Hatate instead – as revealed on Wednesday by Hammers News – eyebrows raised quicker than Carlo Ancelotti in a remake of that classic Cadbury’s ad.
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To quote Paddy Sinat, a reporter from Hammers News‘ sister site 67 Hail Hail, Hatate ‘would struggle’ if he moved to England at this stage of his career. But the surprise which accompanied those Hatate claims have nothing on the bemusement which followed a mention of Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
A £4.5 million forward who, in a dreadful debut season at Celtic, scored once, assisted twice and didn’t even make a Premiership appearance between December to June.
Celtic fans can’t understand why West Ham United might want Michel-Ange Balikwisha
Shortly after his appointment as Rangers’ technical director in 2024, Nils Koppen spoke about his willingness to think ‘out of the box’ when looking for value in the market. Balikwisha would certainly be that; so far out of the box that it belongs in an entirely different postcode.
‘Checks date, can confirm it’s not 1st April… What’s going on?’ – the bemused reaction of one Celtic supporter, West Ham’s interest in Balikwisha requiring a quick, confused glance at the calendar.
“I simply don’t believe it,” writes another, while one fan could hardly keep a straight face in a response dripping with sarcasm.
“[Hatate and Balikwisha are] great players and I would be gutted to lose them. But if you get offered £30 million, I suppose we need to let them go…”
“How much are we paying West Ham to take him?”
Clearly, Koppen sees something in the Belgian-born DR Congo international worth pursuing. Balikwisha did help Royal Antwerp win a trio of trophies in 2023, before going on to record 10 goals and eight assists in 23/24.
Koppen, a Belgian himself of course, presumably kept a keen eye on the domestic game and would have seen Balikwisha play the best football of his career. As Voetbal Belgie put it, ‘the sky was the limit’ for the 25-year-old at Antwerp.
Yet, even on his better days, critics – such as former coach and ex-Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel – often bemoaned a lack of consistency and his tendency to flit from electrifying to ineffective.
Balikwisha has already lost the faith of most Hoops fans
That some Celtic fans felt Balikwisha’s best performance in a green and white shirt came in Tuesday’s 4-1 friendly drubbing by Sporting Lisbon – a performance which earned him a miserable 3/10 rating by the Daily Record – tells a pretty brutal tale.
“Pressing game has improved. Not sure it’s enough as he needs a run of 10-15 games to hit top form, but he’s doing enough for his agent to be able to compile a video for him to get a move somewhere on loan,” one supporter argues.
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And believe us when we say this was about the greatest compliment we could find paid to Balikwisha by any Celtic fan.
“Best game in the Hoops… but still very ordinary and cannot run.”
“I thought he looked scared whenever he got the ball and couldn’t wait to release it. One time in particular when everyone was up for a corner and rather than loft it into the box, he passed to [James] Forrest at the sideline.”
“Can’t remember the last player I saw who is so committed to take a touch and pass it backwards when trying to take a man on.”
“He can play football, but he’s not a Celtic player. Somewhere and for some team he can be useful, but can’t see it for us. Too pedestrian for the Scottish game.”
One of the biggest tests facing Koppen at West Ham is to find a left-winger capable of filling a Crysencio Summerville-shaped void when the Dutchman inevitably departs.
The former Rangers director is renowned for locating rough diamonds. Gems hidden amidst the reeds and the nettles. Balikwisha, though, looks like ‘fools gold’ in a Celtic shirt.
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