Caley Thistle midfielder Greg Tansey reckons Lonsana Doumbouya can become the Highlanders’ latest prolific marksman after the attacker earned his first call-up to the Guinea national team.
France-born attacker Doumbouya has scored four goals in his first nine games since joining from Belgian club Cercle Brugge in the summer, and could win his first Guinea cap in next Sunday’s World Cup qualifier at home to DR Congo after being selected in manager Lappe Bangoura’s 23-man squad.
Tansey has been impressed with the way Doumbouya, pictured, has settled into Scottish football, and feels the 26-year-old can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Billy Mckay and Miles Storey by becoming the focal point of Inverness’ attack.
Tansey said: “He’s a big target man and he’s scoring goals. That’s three in three now. From a forward that’s all we can ask for.
“He’s great to play with. We always know he’s going to pop up with a goal, so it gives us that bit of confidence.
“When a forward is hot we keep giving him the ball and hopefully he’ll continue that.
“We’re starting to get a good understanding of how Lonsana plays and we’re bearing the fruits of it.
“Billy and Miles did welll for the club and players can make a name for themselves by scoring goals up here.
“We’ve got quality in the squad so attackers are always going to get chances. It’s a good club for a forward to be at.”
Inverness go into Saturday’s game against Celtic at Parkhead on the back of a fine run of only one loss in their last nine matches.
Richie Foran’s side are the only Premiership team to have taken points off Celtic this season, in a 2-2 draw at Caledonian Stadium in September, and Tansey believes his side can cause the Hoops further problems.
The 27-year-old added: “They’re a good side that can punish teams when they make mistakes.
“It’s key not to make too many mistakes, but we’ve gone close in the last couple of times we’ve been there.
“We got beaten 3-0 in February but that definitely wasn’t a fair reflection.
“In the first half we completely dominated the game, had chances and it could have been a totally different game if we’d taken them.
“We’ll take confidence from that. Even though the result wasn’t great, we’ll be looking for more of the same. We need to take our chances when they come because I think we will create them.”
