Why £6m Celtic star already looks like another Nygren

Hyun-jun Yang’s second-half goal was enough to keep Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a 2-1 win over St Mirren on Saturday night.

The Hoops had to come from behind in the second half after going in 1-0 down due to a penalty given away by Liam Scales, and showed great composure to get back into the match.

Benjamin Nygren had one of his nights where most of the stuff that he tried did not work, as he lost four of his five duels and lost the ball 13 times without registering a shot, yet he came off the pitch with an assist.

The Sweden international assisted Scales’ equaliser with a terrific corner and had a late assist for Shim Mheuka’s strike ruled out through a dubious offside call.

Why Benjamin Nygren is frustratingly brilliant

Usually, players are frustrating or brilliant. Nygren is both. He can frustrate supporters with one action and then get them flying off their seats in excitement with the next.

The left-footed star was pushed off the ball far too easily for most of the night against the Saints, losing 80% of his duels, and made the wrong decision in promising areas of the pitch too many times.

However, the Swedish star still heavily contributed to the comeback with a perfect corner for Scales to score from, and all the frustration from the rest of his display can be parked in the side because of that.

Last season, for example, Nygren lost the majority of his duels and failed with the majority of his dribble attempts, yet ended the campaign with 21 goal contributions in the Scottish Premiership.

As frustrating as he can be, the 25-year-old talent is a brilliant and effective performer for Martin O’Neill, which is why he continually starts because the manager is willing to take the rough with the smooth.

Celtic may have unearthed their next Benjamin Nygren vs St Mirren

Now, after a busy summer full of incomings for the Scottish giants, Celtic appear to have unearthed their next version of Nygren with one of their signings.

The Hoops paid an initial fee of £6m to Real Oviedo to bring winger Haissem Hassan to Paradise on a permanent deal before the end of the summer transfer window.

He has started each of the last three matches in the Premiership, lining up on the right wing, and delivered his most impressive performance to date in the win over St Mirren.

The left-footed star was utilised as an outlet on the flank because of his ability to carry the team up the pitch with the ball at his feet, and he proved to be an effective outlet throughout the match.

REUTERS/Albert Gea

Hassan came off the pitch with 26 carries in 45 touches of the ball in 72 minutes of action, which speaks to how determined he is to run forward with the ball and take defenders on. In that regard, Chris Sutton took to social media to exclaim that he was “outstanding in 1v1s”.

Like Nygren, the Egypt international is a frustrating player who does not make the right decision or produce the level of quality required every time, losing the ball 17 times and failing to score with any of his four shots on goal.

However, Hassan should have walked off the park with an assist to his name because he whipped in a sublime cross that beat every defender and gave Yang a huge chance to score, only for the South Korea international to mistime his shot and slice the ball wide.

The Egyptian star deserved an assist for the work that he got through against St Mirren, as he whipped in nine crosses, created two chances, and completed three of his five dribble attempts.

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Blake Dahlin

There was one moment when Hassan picked out a run from Nygren with an inch-perfect pass into the box, only for the Swedish attacking midfielder to cut the ball back to a defender instead of going for goal on his weak foot.

Whilst the former Real Oviedo star is clearly going to frustrate fans at times, with his wayward shooting and inconsistent decision-making, there is no doubt that he will provide moments of pure magic.

Frustratingly brilliant will be words used to describe both Nygren and Hassan throughout the 2026/27 campaign, but O’Neill will be hoping that the frustration will be worth it overall.