Trio of ex-Celts net for New York Red Bulls in MLS

In the early hours of Friday morning, New York Red Bulls took on Chicago Fire in a fascinating 3-3 draw in the MLS. 

The six goal thriller was as enthralling as you’d expect however it was a story of what could’ve beens from a Celtic point of view. 

The scoring was opened by Lewis Morgan twenty minutes in when the twenty five year old expertly dispatched his spot kick into the bottom right corner past Gabriel Slonina. 

It was Morgan’s fifth MLS goal of the campaign and one that kept him top of the Red Bulls’ scoring charts for 2022. 

The wide-man was widely remembered by Celtic fans for the string of starts he earned at the beginning of December 2020 when Odsonne Edouard was out injured and Leigh Griffiths was also unavailable. Morgan started in five consecutive games against Rennes and Cluj in the Europa League, Ross County and Hamilton in the league, and finally, Rangers in the League Cup final. In those appearances, the Scot scored one goal and assisted as many as he helped the Hoops to some pivotal victories in the course of their season. 

Despite this relative success, Morgan was sold in January of 2020 to Inter Miami in the USA. The club owned by David Beckham paid approximately £360,000 for Morgan’s services and sold him a year later to fellow MLS side New York Red Bulls where the forward currently plies his trade and who he netted for last night. 

After Morgan put his side 1-0 up in the match, goals from former Hibs man Chris Mueller and Wyatt Omsberg put the visitors in front however their lead only lasted for nine minutes. 

Cameron Harper drew the Red Bulls level just before the hour mark with a side footed effort from the edge of the box which slipped through the fingertips of Slonina in the Chicago goal. This strike was twenty year old Harper’s first for New York Red Bulls since joining the club from Celtic in 2020. 

Whilst in Glasgow, the winger played for the Celtic first team just once. That appearance came in a 1-1 home draw with Hibernian in the midst of a widespread Covid outbreak within the Hoops squad. He played around sixty minutes that evening, failing to catch the eye. 

Three months after his Celtic debut, Harper was snapped up by New York Red Bulls for an undisclosed fee. He’s made ten first team appearances in the thirteen months he’s spent in the big Apple however it looked as though his maiden Red Bulls goal last night would be of no significance. 

Xerdan Shaqiri’s late strike appeared to have won the game for Chicago Fire although substitute and former Celtic striker Patryk Klimala had other ideas. Omir Fernandez’s cut back pass fell to Klimala inside the eighteen yard box and the Polish striker converted with an instinctive first-time finish. 

When he played for Celtic, the New York Red Bulls’ number nine was limited to a large number of substitute appearances. He scored only three goals for the Bhoys however when he played, he always gave his all with his grit and determination getting the backing of the Celtic faithful. 

Klimala was a man who never got to prove himself in green and white and it would’ve been intriguing to see how he would’ve got on under Ange Postecoglou however he was sold to his current club two months before the Greek-Australian’s arrival. 

Ultimately, it is pleasing to see players who didn’t enjoy the greatest success in their time at Celtic doing well elsewhere. It is only natural for footballers to do better in different environments to the ones they were previously and that certainly seems to be the case with Lewis Morgan, Patryk Klimala and Cameron Harper. 

Going forward, the trio will undoubtedly be in Gerhard Struber’s starting eleven for New York Red Bulls’ clash with Inter Miami on Sunday evening - a match I may well be tuning in for.

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