Weah's Instant Impact for Celtic

On This Day in 2019, the Teenager Came off the Bench, Assisted the Winner and Scored the Insurance Goal in a Celtic Victory

Timothy Weah joined Celtic on loan in January 2019 from Paris Saint-Germain, where the 18-year-old had only made two Ligue 1 appearances that season. Before joining Celtic, Weah signed a one-year extension with PSG through 2021, showing the French champions still saw a future for the American international. Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers brought in Weah to cover Leigh Griffiths, who was on personal leave, saying, "Timothy's a young talent who is a full international player. He has a long career ahead of him but he has those natural attributes in terms of his pace and technique. He's hungry, too." The Guardian

The son of former World Player of the Year George Weah made an immediate impact at Celtic, scoring in his first two appearances. His first Scottish Premiership goal came as a substitute against St. Mirren, getting behind the defense to score in the 86th minute of a 4-0 victory. This became a pattern for Weah - entering late in matches and making an impact off the bench.

On February 3rd, Weah played a crucial role in Celtic's 2-0 victory over St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. The match was a tight affair between the two sides with the most clean sheets in the Scottish Premiership. St. Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark made numerous impressive saves to deny Celtic, including stops against Oliver Burke, Jozo Simunovic, Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair. But in the 78th minute, Weah, who entered the match a few minutes earlier, provided the breakthrough when his cross found James Forrest at the back post. The American then sealed the victory on the counter-attack, turning in Callum McGregor's cross after a flowing move to secure Celtic's fifth-straight win and move them six points clear at the top of the table.

It's an incredible feeling to come into a hard game and score," Weah said. "But the assist was more important for me. It's my first of the season and to get it at such an important time was amazing. To see the joy on Jamesie's face was incredible and the celebration with the fans topped it off. The referee told me that he would have given me a yellow card (for his goal celebration), but the fans didn't fall over and told me to be careful the next time. I bet Jamesie is wondering why I didn't get booked. It's weird. But I have to say that the goal and celebration would have been worth a booking, 100 percent."

Weah remained the spark off the bench for the eventual Scottish Champions. In April, he scored another goal in the league against St. Mirrens, which turned out to be his second-to-last match in Scotland. Weah's time at Celtic would come to a premature end in May. Weah was selected for the U.S. U-20 World Cup squad that would begin play on May 24 - the day before Celtic's Scottish Cup final against Hearts. Weah accepted the chance to represent his country, and Celtic terminated his loan two weeks early, stating that Weah "refused to return to Glasgow" for the season's final match. 

"The gaffer told me it is in the best interest of the team that I collect my things and go home," Weah said. He had scored four goals in 16 appearances but saw his playing time decrease after Neil Lennon replaced Rodgers as manager in February.

Weah bid an emotional farewell to Celtic supporters on Instagram, writing "It was a true honour playing for this club and also having the opportunity to interact with legends who paved the way for us. To you, the fans, I will never forget you for all the love, support and kindness you have shown me. I don't know as yet what the future holds but I wish to one day come back to this great club to be with you all. I will forever miss you chanting my name and hearing the beautiful song you have created for me."

Celtic would go on to win the Scottish Cup without Weah, but that is okay. The young American had a stellar tournament, notching two goals and two assists in a run to the quarterfinals. Weah assisted in that famous 3-2 win over France in the Round of 16.