Even though Balikwisha<\/a> featured during O\u2019Neill\u2019s first few games in charge, he has hardly been used since, but Celtic\u2019s<\/a> departing coach stated that could all change. <\/p>\n Can AFCON be where Michel-Ange Balikwisha finally hits some form? <\/p>\n \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n Ahead of Celtic\u2019s game against Dundee<\/a> on Wednesday night, which will be O\u2019Neill\u2019s final bow as manager, he brought up Balikwisha\u2019s name in his press conference. <\/p>\n O\u2019Neill admitted that the 24-year-old \u2018hasn\u2019t played under me\u2019 as much, but that doesn\u2019t mean the next manager will think the same.<\/p>\n Wilfried Nancy will take charge on Thursday<\/a>, and O\u2019Neill shared that he told Balikwisha how the Frenchman might think Celtic\u2019s summer signing is \u2018the best.\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cI said to some of the lads, Balikwisha hasn\u2019t played under me (that much),\u201d said O\u2019Neill. \u201cThe next manager will step in. Play him. And find out that he could be the best. This is the point. I have made that point to him. <\/p>\n \u201cThe incoming manager may have a difference of an opinion on some players that I would have. That doesn\u2019t mean I am right.\u201d <\/p>\n Balikwisha\u2019s stats for Celtic<\/p>\n The issue with Balikwisha is that he won\u2019t have much time to impress his new boss because he will be away on international duty this month.<\/p>\n The Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in Morocco on December 21, and Balikwisha has been selected by DR Congo<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Celtic Park<\/a> faithful will be hoping he can find some life and form with his country because he has found next to nothing with the champions of Scotland<\/a>. <\/p>\n Games: 12Goals: 0Assists: 2Starts: 2Off the bench: 10Remained on the bench: 5Total minutes: 317 Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First impressions are always crucial in life, but unfortunately for Michel-Ange Balikwisha, he didn\u2019t pass that test on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,30905,13404,101,56,54,55,106896],"class_list":{"0":"post-297084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-martin-oneill","10":"tag-michel-ange-balikwisha","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-wilfried-nancy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Michel-Ange](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244606595-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Ian MacNicol\/Getty ImagesMartin O\u2019Neill provides hope for Michel-Ange Balikwisha at Celtic <\/p>\n