Camilo Duran’s former manager Ricardo Pessoa has detailed the transformation behind the forward’s rise to Celtic and believes his Parkhead move can eventually propel him to another level.
Pessoa worked with Duran at Portimonense and has recalled how the Colombian’s natural ability was never in doubt, but believes his work rate and mentality previously prevented him from fulfilling that potential.
Duran has since made an impressive start to life in Glasgow following his summer move to Celtic and is now in line to make his senior Colombia debut after receiving his first call-up from Nestor Lorenzo.
Speaking to Bola no Rede, Pessoa reflected: “He really was a talent, but he lacked other things.
“The talent was there, but he lacked the daily work. He lacked learning to suffer, because he knew he was really very good, but he thought that because he was very good, perhaps he didn’t have to work so hard.
“My role with him at the tactical level was to work on his defensive process.
“Not long ago, when he was already at Celtic, he told me: ‘Boss, now I even run back and forth.’ And I said: ‘No, you’ve always been able to run, you just didn’t want to do it as much because you knew you were good and the level was low.’
“Mentally, he’s a much more mature player today. He’s a player who’s prepared for difficulties and for being left out.
“I took him to Portimonense because I believed he would succeed, but it wasn’t easy for him at the beginning.
“He wasn’t an immediate starter because he came from the Campeonato de Portugal to the Segunda Liga, and the context is different: the speed at which the game is played, the time we have to turn around, is completely different, and he was used to having that time and space.
“Being a player who was better than the others, that time didn’t make a difference to him – but when he arrived in the Segunda Liga, the time to react and think is much less, and he had some difficulties at the beginning and wasn’t a starter.
“But I knew, and I always said, that he was a player who, when he asserted himself, would be successful, and that’s what happened. Above all, it was about working with him on the mental aspect, working on this aspect of the defensive game.
“He’s a star player, and I believe he won’t stop here. I had enormous faith that he would be called up to the national team; I told him that a month ago – and I believe that this step to Celtic will allow him, in a year or two, to take another leap.”
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