Lawrence Shankland insists Celtic target Vinicius Souza can fill the midfield security guard void left by the departure of Nir Bitton.
The Scot faced the Brazilian twice last season in the Belgian top flight and has nothing but rave reviews for a player who he believes is an identikit of the Israeli who left Parkhead for pastures new this summer. The champions are trying to lure the 23-year-old to Glasgow and Beerschot striker Shankland is adamant a fee of around the £4million mark would be a bargain for a talent who shone like a diamond for Mechelen last season.
He said: “I remember playing against Souza. He’s hard to miss as he’s a tall, athletic guy who makes an instant impression on you as he’s a bit of a machine. “We played Mechelen twice and both times we struggled. They’re a good side and Souza is a big part of how they play as he sits in front of the defence and dominates in that area.
“We struggled in the two games against them and in both games he performed well. He does the simple things well.
“The role he performed was as a holding player in the midfield. He doesn’t over-complicate things, he just keeps things ticking over and moving the ball forward.
“He looked technically very good and is a good reader of the game. He puts me in mind of Nir Bitton.
“It would make sense that Celtic are looking for that type of player now that Bitton has moved on. Celtic will have been impressed as he’s had a good season in Belgium and clubs have clearly taken notice.
“Souza has a similar type of stature to Bitton and looks more than capable of going into Celtic and doing a similar job to the one Bitton carried out.”
Souza stands 6ft 2in and Shankland believes Ange Postecoglou’s side could be doing with a midfielder who carries a height advantage as part of his armoury.
He added: “From what I saw of him in the two games, Souza is good on the ball and has a presence about him. He’s a big lad and a threat at set-pieces.
“Celtic don’t really carry that threat from midfield in terms of size but they have boys like Callum McGregor who put in the miles. So it could help complement that and provide a good balance.
“If Souza was beside him then I can see Callum getting a bit more freedom to get about the pitch and get himself further forward with the shackles off him a bit more.
“From what I remember of Souza he likes to do the tidying up in the midfield area and hold his position. He is very disciplined in that role.”
Shankland has settled into life in Belgium with relative ease but has nothing but admiration for players such as Souza who leave home at a young age and try to forge a career on the other side of the planet.
The former Dundee United hitman saw enough of the midfielder to appreciate a talent who performs like an elder statesman to belie his tender years.
He added: “Souza has arrived in Belgium from Brazil and it says a lot that he can move from the other side of the world and adapt so quickly to a European league.
“He’s only 23 but he looks far more mature and experienced than he should be for a player of that age. He looks as though he’s been playing that midfield role for years.
“That’s the way he comes across on the pitch and is clearly an intelligent player.
“He’s not someone who goes about the pitch demanding the ball and trying to run the game.
“When we played Mechelen we sat in and they did knock the ball around in front of us. But he wasn’t the midfield controller, he sat in front of the defence and made sure we couldn’t hurt them on the counter-attack.
As Celtic continue to scour the globe in a summer recruitment drive, Shankland insists the Belgian league can provide a source of top, young talent, with Souza an example of players arriving in Europe from South America in a bid to seal moves to the Continent’s biggest clubs.
He said: “The Belgian league is a good standard, the top five or six teams are high quality.
“Anderlecht, Club Bruges and Standard Liege are the obvious ones. They are top footballing teams then below that you find most teams are on a par with one another.
“There’s a lot of good football played here and it’s a league I’ve enjoyed playing in.
“It’s also heavily-scouted and a lot of players manage to get moves to Britain, especially over recent years. It’s a well-watched league in terms of picking talent up so players look to come here from the likes of South America and look to use that platform to try and move on to bigger things.
“Souza could be the latest to do exactly that.”
