On Wednesday, El Heraldo suggested Celtic winger Luis Palma’s efforts to regain his place under Brendan Rodgers hasn’t been successful. Later that day, the 24-year-old made his first appearance for the the Scottish champions in over a month.
Palma came off the bench in Celtic’s 0-0 draw against Atalanta in the Champions League and was on the pitch for 16 minutes. Prior to that, he’d clocked in 106 minutes from four appearances.
The Honduras international was visited by former Cagliari striker David Suazo before Celtic’s European tie against La Dea.
Suazo is a legend in Honduras, representing them between 1999 and 2012. He lives in Italy, which game him an opportunity to meet Palma, when Celtic travelled there.
The former striker gave an interview to TVC, where he talked about the chat he had with the Celtic player. His comments are relayed by Fútbol Centroamérica.
“Actually the talk with Luis was more about pleasure, advice, because they are situations that some players would like to receive, he comes from Scotland to Italy, a country where I live, I am close, it happened that we were able to talk to him, these are the things that help you when you are abroad, that someone you know comes to visit you in times of difficulty,” he said.
“Talking to him, I told him, don’t worry, we all go through these difficulties, I even told him an anecdote of mine at Cagliari where I went four months without scoring a goal and it’s the most difficult things in football that help you to grow,” Suazo explained.
The Honduran was pleased to see Brendan Rodgers hand his compatriot minutes against Atalanta. He also believes his meeting with Palma could encourage him.
“Thank God he had minutes because the delicate moment he is living with Celtic, these minutes add up, they make you see that he is improving and I felt happy and committed, and those are the things, the visits of a friend, of a compatriot helps you,” he added.
Last month, former Celtic star Emilio Izaguirre had urged Palma to be mentally strong to overcome the difficult situation with Brendan Rodgers’ side. Suazo now states the attacker has been listening to the suggestions made by some of his compatriots.
“Since we had experiences in Europe and things are slightly different and [we] share those secrets that we have, and I heard Emilio talking in the media and I think Palma listened to them and they helped him to get back on track,” Suazo said.
