Ajeti, Albian – The Celtic Wiki

Personal

Fullname: Albian Ajeti
aka: ‘A-Yeti’
Born: 26 Feb 1997
Birthplace: Basel, Switzerland
Signed:13 Aug 2020 (from West Ham £5m)
On Loan: 31 Aug 2022 (to Strum Graz for season)
Left: 31 August 2023 (to Gaziantep (Turkey, est £0-500k)
Position: Forward, striker
Debut: Celtic 6-0 KR Reykjavik, European Cup, 18 Aug 2020
Squad No.: 10
Internationals: Switzerland
International Caps: 11 [complete at end of career]
International Goals: 1 [complete at end of career]

Biog

‘Ajeti finds the netty’….. Puns galore!

Albian Ajeti came to Celtic under a little cloud. Celtic initially proposed a season long loan deal with an option to buy and West Ham were reportedly happy with this but the player himself stalled & turned Celtic down, the more charitable stating he reportedly wanted time to think about his next move.

Ajeti, who had a short period playing alongside Moi Elyounoussi at Basel, had joined West Ham in an £8m move in 2019 after 43 goals in 96 games for Basel. However he made only nine appearances for West Ham and was dubbed a failure.

Neil Lennon era

With an initial move to Celtic dead in the water, Neil Lennon intervened to speak to the player and Celtic upped their commitment by changing the deal to a permanent move immediately. Later on, West Ham bloggers reported the Hammers held up the deal not the player as they needed cash upfront for late payments on previous transfers. All a bit messy.

He finally signed for Celtic in August 2020 (as the COVID-19 epidemic was in full throe) as the club was pushing to achieve ten-in-a-row and complete the fourth treble in a row from last season (delayed Scottish Cup final still to be played). He had strong competition for the strikers roles with the peerless Edouard and the wayward Griffiths, so he had to work hard to make a name for himself, but got straight off the ground when in he scored a scramble goal in his domestic debut, a very late 1-0 winner v Dundee Utd, so a fine start.

As a player, Ajeti had a fine touch, control and awareness and his in the box finishing was a joy. However, his pace was not the best and he seemed to be one who could play alone but maybe not fit into a system. Injuries ravaged his time in his first season at Celtic, but when given a chance he grabbed some goals in an admittedly faltering demoralised Celtic side that had surrendered the league title. You couldn’t fault his effort.

Sadly for him he wasn’t even in the Swiss squad for the Euros in which Switzerland had some incredible results reaching the quarter-finals. It clearly showed the leap he needed to make, not just at club level.

Ange Postecoglou era

A leaner Ajeti kicked off the new era with the first goal for Celtic under Postecoglu in a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wed with Ajeti made captain for the first half side. There actually was confidence that he could prove doubters wrong and that now with a summer behind him, he could provide his worth.

“That was the reason I wanted to stay another year at Celtic; I wanted to show everyone what I’m actually capable of”.

Yet it all seemed to come to an end quickly enough, despite having been given a decent number of games to once again prove himself. He went on to score a double v Ross County in a 3-0 win and then a goal in a 4-3 defeat v Real Betis in the next match, but in total he scored in only these two matches despite all the further opportunities given that season, more games than many others in his situation would be afforded.

Once Ange Postecoglou brought in the contingent of players from Japan, there was little spoken about Ajeti. Fellow Celt Giakoumakis had a patchy start to his time at Celtic, but once he got into the flow of the new system, he hit a fine run of form and Ajeti was further out of the picture. To make matters worse, even when both Kyogo & Giakoumakis were out the first team, no one was calling for Ajeti to step up but rather just shuffle players around like Maeda or Abada instead to fill in the striker roles.

It was clear that it was best for him to once again find a new club to restart his career.

Albian Ajeti joined Austrian side Sturm Graz on loan in August 2022 for season 2021/22. The Austrians were competing in the Europa League and had an option to make the deal permanent for £2.1m in the next summer. The week before he left, Celtic broke the domestic away result record with a 9-0 win v Dundee Utd, despite lead striker Giakoumakis even being available, and without Ajeti anywhere in sight. His loan move was all for the best.

Why it didn’t work out for him at either Celtic or West Ham, well, only he could best answer. It’s clear he had some talent & ability, and he did show clear effort in his matches. In fairness, the Neil Lennon era knocked the stuffing out of a number of players but surprisingly even Postecoglou couldn’t turn things around for Ajeti. Injuries alone were not the reason for his underwhelming time at Celtic.

For the headline writers & wits in the support, the most disappointing aspect was the lack of opportunities to use the pun ‘Ajeti finds the Netty‘!

On Loan

At Strum Graz he became a regular player, and played in the Europa League group stages with them, including two draws with Lazio and a 1-0 win over Feyenoord.

The hoped for kick-start in Austria little succeeded. Admittedly, he played in sufficient matches at his on-loan club but his scoring form was little better than his time when at West Ham and Celtic. It was a mystery to all what was going wrong. Maybe, simply, everyone had heavily over-estimated his true ability.

The sad irony for Ajeti was that at the time of his departure, Celtic were once again looking for another striker to come in to bolster the squad.

It just wasn’t to be for him at Celtic but there was no issue with him ever as a person or player at Celtic.

We wished him all the best.

He left to Turkish side Gaziantep in August 2023.

We wished him the best.

Post-Celtic

[…]

Quotes

“Celtic are a perfect fit for me. I needed no convincing.”
Albian Ajeti (2020)

“No. Why should I? This was the best decision I could have made in the last season. It’s not easy making a move like this. It’s not just me, football is going on with this pandemic and I’m sure a lot of people think it’s not easy.”
Ajeti on moving to Celtic, if any regrets, esp as West Ham were doing so well down south in 2020/21 (2021)

“To be fair Albian has worked his socks off in training and I know that if the opportunity arrives for him tomorrow he’s done everything he can to be in a good position to take it. If he goes in there and starts banging goals in he makes it difficult for others to take his position.”
Ange (Sep 2021)

“I don’t think he is a good player in the first place. He’s certainly not good enough to play for Celtic, he wasn’t good enough to play for West Ham and he wasn’t good enough to play for Sturm Graz. The only place where he played to a decent level was Switzerland with Basel so he should go back there. That can be the way of it sometimes. You find a place where you can play. “I know he has been capped, but I was surprised my former international team-mate Murat Yakin called him up. For me he is not national team standard. You never have a guarantee that a player will be successful, so he is one that Celtic need to get rid of – and they have a few like that.”
ExCelt & Swiss player Ramon Vega (July 2023)

Playing Career

APPEARANCES (subs)	LEAGUE	SCOTTISH CUP	LEAGUE CUP	EUROPE	TOTAL
2020/21	20	2	1	7	30
Goals	6	0	0	0	6
2021/22	7	0	3	7	17
Goals	2	0	0	1	3
Total	27	2	4	14	47
Goals	8	0	0	1	9

Honours with Celtic

(Honours below are attributed for those campaigns in which the player has played in at least one match in the campaign)

Scottish League

2022

Scottish Cup

2020 [postponed from prior season due to covid]

Scottish League Cup

2021-22

Pictures

Player Pics

KDS

First thread (2019)

Articles

He said no to Barcelona but Celtic was a huge draw for Albian Ajeti

Striker and his twin brother turned down Spanish giants aged 16

By Andrew Smith

Thursday, 13th August 2020, 10:30 pm

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/he-said-no-barcelona-celtic-was-huge-draw-albian-ajeti-2942038

The unshakeable confidence Albian Ajeti has in his abilities can perhaps be traced to a monumental decision he made in his mid-teens. And the unshakeable bond the new Celtic striker had then with his footballing twin Adonis Ajeti.

The pair’s promise in the Basel youth academy they joined as mere eight-year-olds resulted in the ultimate offer in their formative years.

Celtic: Get the latest team news, match previews and reports

“Barcelona wanted me and my twin brother when we were 16,” said the 23-year-old, who has been recruited by Celtic on a £5 million deal from West Ham.

“They were interested in signing the both of us. It wasn’t a trial but we went over for a couple of days and were shown around the Barcelona academy and trained with them. But in the end we decided to stay in Switzerland at the Basel academy.

“People say it’s hard to say no to Barcelona but not at that age, to be fair. When you are young you want to be with your family, with your brothers and friends, so it wasn’t that hard to say no.

“My brother was keen to do it but in the end we decided to keep going with what we were doing in Switzerland. It worked out well for us.”

The desire to remain among family and friends would no doubt have been strong because of the upheaval endured by the parents of the twins, and older brother Arlind Ajeti. The 26-year-old is currently with Danish club Vejle, while Adonis plays for Swiss side St Gallen.

Their mother and father left their native Kosovo for Switzerland in the early 1990s. Genocidal conflicts in both neighbouring Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia that followed the fragmentation of old Yugoslavia led to repressions of Kosovar Albanians, and in turn precipitated a war in the previously autonomous region at the end of that decade.

The Celtic forward’s Albanian roots – he and his brothers spoke only to their parents in the language while growing up – resulted in his latest move proving the source of a political pronouncement of an altogether more emollient nature.

Albanian president Ilir Meta – a Celtic nut after being turned on to the club by former player and countryman Rudi Vata – was quick off the mark in tweeting his congratulations to Ajeti.

“Celtic is known all around the world, but especially from where I come from originally,” the striker said. “People from Kosovo Albania really support Celtic so I have known about Celtic since I was a small boy. They have a fanbase there [as can be seen with ] the president of Albania being a huge fan, so we actually grew up knowing about the club.”

The player will look to get his career moving forward again after it firmly stalled in a fruitless season with West Ham.

Recruited from Basel for £8m after netting 43 goals and contributing 21 assists in 96 appearances, he was given no impression to replicate such stats.

Arriving with Manuel Pellegrini at the helm, when he gave way to David Moyes months later, Ajeti had a largely spectating role in London. In all he made only three starts – only one in the Premier League – and nine, largely brief, substitute appearances. Yet, the Swiss international appears to have few regrets.

“It was a good experience. I would say this was a year of learning, of improving mentally,” he said. “I didn’t play as much as I expected so it was a year of learning. It is not always easy to sign for a football club when there are changes like we had last year at West Ham. But it is how it is and I am happy to be at Celtic.

“It’s hard to say [if it would have helped me if Pellegrini stayed] because you don’t know what could have happened. I just think the work I did there was good, but every manager has a different system of football and you have to understand it because not everyone is the same. It is always hard for a new manager to get the best out of the team. This is football.”

In Neil Lennon, who successfully sold Celtic to him in a personal phone call, he now believes he has a manager who will get the best out of him. And he believes it worked out for the best that the initial pursuit of a loan deal gave way to him joining permanently.

“For me it was important that the boss Neil Lennon and the sporting director Nick Hammond showed me a lot of interest. It was also important for me to feel like I would be an important player if I was going to sign for as big a club as Celtic is. This was important. [As was] a chance to play for them, with all the tradition they have and the history of this football club and the fans they have.

“The type of deal was between the clubs, not just me. But I am more than happy that I have signed for four years. I want to be at a club like this for that time. I want to share all the great moments with the top fans we have here, and the top players. That is why I came to Celtic and I want to be here for a very long time.”

Albian Ajeti: Nothing to prove at Celtic – I will score if I get more game-time from manager

Albian Ajeti claims he will be a guaranteed source of goals for Celtic if he gets more regular game-time for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
By Stephen Halliday
Saturday, 11th September 2021, 6:22 pm
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/albian-ajeti-nothing-to-prove-at-celtic-i-will-score-if-i-get-more-game-time-from-manager-3379886
0

The Swiss international striker marked his first starting appearance of the season with a double in the 3-0 Premiership win over Ross County at Celtic Park.
With Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi out injured and new signing Giorgos Giakoumakis not yet fully fit, Ajeti is likely to lead the line again for Celtic when they open their Europa League group stage campaign against Real Betis in Seville on Thursday.

“I had nothing to prove because I have been training very well and working very hard every day so I don’t need to prove anything to anyone,” said Ajeti.
“If I play and get starts in games, then I will score. We play with high intensity and high pressing where we create many chances and we will always score lots of goals. It doesn’t matter who scores but if we have the chances, then I’ll be there to score the goals.
“The performance was important for us and we performed as well as we have for the last couple of weeks. We did a lot well today and I’m happy to help the team with goals in what was a tough game.”
Celtic manager Postecoglou, who confirmed that left-back Greg Taylor is a doubt for the Betis match after suffering a recurrence of a shoulder injury, was pleased with his team’s perseverance as they had to wait over an hour before debutant Cameron Carter-Vickers gave them the breakthrough.
“The result was positive, the performance was okay,” said Postecoglou. “We started really well and just needed a goal.
“We lacked a little bit of fluency in the front third. In these games, if you don’t score early it gives encouragement to the opposition and they hung in there and defended well at times.
“We overdid things towards the back end of the first-half but I thought after half-time we got back to being disciplined. We knew at some point we’d be able to break them open and the pleasing thing was that we did that trying to play our football rather than doing different things.”

AJETI FIRES BACK IN WAR OF WORDS

https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/ajeti-fires-back-in-war-of-words/

By CQN Magazine on 6th October 2021 Latest News

ALBIAN AJETI has fired back at former Celtic treble winner Ramon Vega in an astonishing war of words.

The Hoops hitman, who is still struggling to make an impression with only nine goals since his £5million arrival from West Ham last summer, was on the receiving end of some savage criticism from the one-time Parkhead central defender.

Vega, 50, questioned Ajeti’s qualities after the forward was named in the Switzerland international squad for the forthcoming World Cup games against Northern Ireland and Lithuania.

The ex-central defender, who spent a season on loan from Spurs at Parkhead in Martin O’Neill’s clean sweep debut campaign in 2000/01, said: “I am very surprised that Ajeti was called up and I really can’t understand it.

“He actually only plays at Celtic because the manager has no other options due to many injuries. And he wasn’t really convincing.

“I see little dynamism, little speed in him – I only see a few predatory qualities, which he does too seldom. I don’t know what he stands for as a striker.”

Ajeti, who has claimed three goals this term with a double against Ross County and one against Real Betis, retaliated by saying he had never heard of Vega who made 23 appearances for his country.

The big-money attack leader, speaking to Swiss publication Blick, said: “Ramon Vega? Who is that?

“That is his opinion, but he doesn’t choose the line-up, so I’m less interested.

“We have to deal with criticism. This is football. That’s part of it.

“I can live with it. Of course, things can always go better, but I fight and do my best.”

Albian Ajeti shares one Celtic wish as striker reflects on where it went wrong at Parkhead

The Swiss striker is enjoying his football on loan with Austrian club Strum Graz after a difficult two years
https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/albian-ajeti-shares-one-celtic-25359866
SPFL
ByRyan McDonaldEditor
07:00, 28 OCT 2022

Albian Ajeti insists he has no regrets over his move to Celtic – but wishes he was given a fair crack at the whip.

The Hoops shelled out £4.5million to bring the Swiss striker from West Ham in 2020 as they went all out for an historic 10-in-a-row. Yet despite making an explosive start to life at Parkhead, the 25-year-old quickly fell out of the picture during a car-crash campaign.

Neil Lennon’s sacking eventually led to the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, a manager who has breathed fresh life into the Glasgow giants. Ajeti’s fortunes never improved, though, and the frontman soon found himself training with the reserves. Now on loan with Austrian club Strum Graz, it’s hard to put a finger on where it all went wrong for the player. He marked his league debut by bagging a late winner as a sub at Dundee United – scoring five goals in his first six Premiership games.

However, injuries and tactical tweaks saw the goals dry up and Ajeti would find the net just once more before the conclusion of a miserable 2020/21 season.

“I’m telling you, I don’t know what went wrong really,” Ajeti told Football Scotland in an exclusive interview.

“I felt so comfortable and so confident in that team. Obviously, we had a very, very tough year and we lost the title after nine years in a row, going for the 10. Covid was there.

“I think that when I got injured in September, when I came back it didn’t really work that well. I still tried to improve and work hard, but we obviously weren’t having the results that we needed or wanted.

“I think we started to struggle a little bit and this affected the team, which can happen in football. It was just a tough year for everyone, honestly.”

That subsequent campaign would become an iconic one as the Hoops wrestled back the title from Rangers against all odds.

For Ajeti, though, it was one of the toughest years of his career having spent the majority of his time watching on from the stands.

The former Basel forward had options to leave Celts last term but was determined to prove his critics wrong. He did hit the goal trail in September before falling behind new signings Kyogo and Giorgos Giakoumakis in the pecking order.

“That was the reason I wanted to stay another year at Celtic; I wanted to show everyone what I’m actually capable of,” he continued.

“The fans, most of the players haven’t actually seen what I’m capable of or what my qualities are because first of all, I haven’t played much. I haven’t had many starts in both seasons, especially in the second season I had four or five starts [six].

“It was hard for me. I had many good conversations in the pre-season with the manager, Ange. He obviously gave me a lot of confidence throughout the pre-season, I think I had quite a good pre-season.

“As a player, this is what you need after a tough first season, you need confidence. I had this confidence, but game-by-game we were winning, it was hard for me to get into the team.

“After pre-season, I wasn’t playing much. For me, there was not much to do other than to accept it and just work even harder to make pressure in training at least.

“In September, that’s when I had my first start of the season. I got my opportunity there and I wanted to show it too much.

“I played four games or something; Ross County at home, Betis away and there was another Cup game at home. I don’t think I did that bad, I still scored three goals and assisted one. But this is football.”

Albian Ajeti netted a double against Ross County
Albian Ajeti netted a double against Ross County (Image: SNS Group)
He never realised it at the time, but Ajeti’s final game in a Hoops jersey would come against Real Betis in December 2021. The fringe man was given a rare opportunity to lead the line as a second-string side stunned their La Liga opponents by running out 3-2 winners at Celtic Park.

Although the Europa League clash was a dead-rubber, it would come at a huge cost for Ajeti, who suffered a nightmare hamstring injury that left him sidelined for months.

He said: “Honestly, when I realised I wouldn’t play again was when I came back from an injury and I was just training by myself or sometimes with the second team.

“I just realised after my injury I was totally dropped, I was not training with the team, I was training separate most of the time, and that was a very tough time for me.”

You could perhaps understand if Ajeti had a sense of grievance towards Celtic after starting just 19 games in two years.

However, the 11-times capped Swiss holds no grudges against Lennon, Postecoglou or anyone else at the club.

He said: “Listen, I can’t say anything bad about the club, the history, the fans, my teammates. To be honest, I’m very sad that it just didn’t work out as I hoped for.

“I tried very hard, I’ve been working very hard during my time at Celtic. This is football. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. I had to accept it, it wasn’t easy, it was very tough.

“Honestly, I don’t have any regrets at all. I will just look back and say it was unfortunate that it didn’t work out as they and I hoped for. It’s a special club, it’s a very special club, I know that. So I’m telling you, I would definitely not regret anything, even though I probably had the toughest time of my career so far, especially the second year. But, I will not regret it.”

Ajeti has rediscovered his goalscoring touch in Austria, with three goals in his first three domestic starts.

So, has he totally written off his Celtic career?

“Listen, you never know. I still have two years contract there at Celtic,” he added. “I will try and get as much game time here as possible and score as many goals as possible, staying healthy obviously. Then we will see what happens at the end of the season.

Albian Ajeti: Nothing to prove at Celtic – I will score if I get more game-time from manager

Albian Ajeti claims he will be a guaranteed source of goals for Celtic if he gets more regular game-time for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

By Stephen Halliday

Saturday, 11th September 2021, 6:22 pm

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/albian-ajeti-nothing-to-prove-at-celtic-i-will-score-if-i-get-more-game-time-from-manager-3379886

The Swiss international striker marked his first starting appearance of the season with a double in the 3-0 Premiership win over Ross County at Celtic Park.

With Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi out injured and new signing Giorgos Giakoumakis not yet fully fit, Ajeti is likely to lead the line again for Celtic when they open their Europa League group stage campaign against Real Betis in Seville on Thursday.

“I had nothing to prove because I have been training very well and working very hard every day so I don’t need to prove anything to anyone,” said Ajeti.

“If I play and get starts in games, then I will score. We play with high intensity and high pressing where we create many chances and we will always score lots of goals. It doesn’t matter who scores but if we have the chances, then I’ll be there to score the goals.

“The performance was important for us and we performed as well as we have for the last couple of weeks. We did a lot well today and I’m happy to help the team with goals in what was a tough game.”

Celtic manager Postecoglou, who confirmed that left-back Greg Taylor is a doubt for the Betis match after suffering a recurrence of a shoulder injury, was pleased with his team’s perseverance as they had to wait over an hour before debutant Cameron Carter-Vickers gave them the breakthrough.

“The result was positive, the performance was okay,” said Postecoglou. “We started really well and just needed a goal.

“We lacked a little bit of fluency in the front third. In these games, if you don’t score early it gives encouragement to the opposition and they hung in there and defended well at times.

“We overdid things towards the back end of the first-half but I thought after half-time we got back to being disciplined. We knew at some point we’d be able to break them open and the pleasing thing was that we did that trying to play our football rather than doing different things.”

AJETI FIRES BACK IN WAR OF WORDS