Jocelin Ta Bi is earning rave reviews after a hat-trick of assists in Sunderland’s EFL Cup win over Brentford.

The winger came incredibly close to joining Celtic in January, even conducting an interview describing the move as a “dream come true”.

However, after a delay, it was said that Ta Bi’s move had been scuppered by medical issues. Celtic still were said to have considered going through with the move in the summer, but within days, he had slipped from their grasp.

Sunderland 4-0 Brentford: Jocelin Ta Bi puts up a hat-trick of assists

Each of the Black Cats’ first three goals on the night were provided by Ta Bi. The first should’ve been his goal, but a touch from Brentford’s goalkeeper prompted Christian Taibi to knock the ball over the line. Opta haven’t credited him with the official assist for this reason.

However, his role in the other two was unquestionable. For the second, he embarrassed £40 million left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf before squaring it to Timur Tuterov. Ten minutes later, he picked out Belgium winger Malick Fofana with an exceptional cross for their third.

On Twitter/X, Sunderland fans have all been saying the same thing: Ta Bi has earned the right to be their new starting right-winger over ex-PSG man Thomas Meunier.

Journalist Ethan Todd wrote on X: “Sunderland have been fantastic all over the pitch tonight vs Brentford, but Jocelin Ta Bi has been something else. An incredible, exciting performance with a hat-trick of assists. Had the better of Diouf all night with trickery, technique and pace.”

Some tongue-in-cheek fans compared him to Lionel Messi and even Pele. @scottSAFCcooper wrote: “Who’s the best player you’ve seen live? Jocelin Ta Bi, mate.”

‘Magical’, ‘amazing’, ‘sensational’, ‘incredible’, ‘outstanding’, ‘superb’ and ‘unreal’ were among the labels he was given by other fans. Essentially, every superlative under the sun.

Discussing Ta Bi after the game, manager Regis Le Bris said: “It’s a perfect example for us. Jocelin comes from another country, another culture. We can’t teach him how to dribble, how to escape pressure, how to deliver.

“He’s gifted, he worked hard previously to get those qualities and we can help him to learn how to defend. I think it was a really good experience.

“On the right side, they overloaded this side so at half-time it was important to fix problems, but he was brave. He was running probably much more than expected, and finally it was still possible to deliver those two or three key passes.”