Celtic striker 'jumped at the chance' to join Airdrie in loan move

Jon Afolabi jumped at the chance to join Airdrie on loan, and says the link-up between them and Celtic convinced him it was a good place to be.

Midfielder Kerr McInroy had already enjoyed a successful spell at the Diamonds before moving on to Ayr in the Championship, and Brody Paterson joined Airdrie from Celtic last month.

Afolabi, 22, from Dublin, had been on loan at Ayr, but hadn’t featured since a 2-0 Boxing Day win over Raith Rovers.

But he says he will get minutes under his belt in Monklands and hopefully help Airdrie race to the top of League One.

Afolabi said: “As soon as the opportunity came up, I knew I would be playing and have the chance to showcase myself, and that it would be a good opportunity.

“Kerr McInroy was here and I see Brody Paterson is here as well, so there’s a good link between the clubs, and it’s a good place to be. They have a good relationship with each other and it seems like a good thing to have.

“It’s better than playing reserve games; once there’s points and there are things on the line to lose the game, it’s always better to have that competitive edge. It makes players play better.”

Afolabi, who replaced Calum Gallagher with 14 minutes left of Saturday’s 4-1 win over Montrose, said: “It was good to get back out on the pitch after a while out.

“It’s important to build a winning mentality, which the boys have, and they’ve been winning quite a few games.

“They put on a good performance on Saturday so it’s all about maintaining that.”

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