We have watched Celtic through many transfer windows but I don’t think we have ever hit as many targets before – both in terms of who we brought in and who we moved out.
It is still early in the season but Kyogo Furuhashi (26) looks every inch a superstar in hoops. Two years ago we pondered who was better, Edouard or Dembele, without reaching a clear conclusion. Today, Kyogo would be first pick from the three of them. It has been 17 years since we have seen a striker with such promise – so no pressure, Kyogo.
The first assumption is that Georgios Gialouakis (26) will have to wait on Kyogo being rested to make his mark. With a long season ahead, who knows? Georgios offers an aerial target that we have missed for many years, there could be occasions when he is preferred, or when both are used.
I hear great things about Josip Juranovic (26) from Zbyszek. He was a stand out for Legia last season and no one there is happy he has left. He gets forward, has an end product and can defend. The defence is already vastly more stable than it was last season, the addition of Jura should help.
Carl Starfelt (26) is frustratingly difficult to assess. He is good on the ball, fast, and reads the game well enough to cover for teammates. Then there are the mistakes that cost goals. At the same stage of Christopher Jullien’s Celtic career, the French defender was sitting on the bench, unable to win a place in the team that exited the Champions League. Christopher soon settled, Carl must do the same.
That’s four 26-year-olds added at their athletic peak. Not often we do that.
Paying £3.6m for a 19-year-old from Israeli football is at the higher end of what Maccabi Petah Tikva could have hoped for. Liel Abada’s instant return in goals and assists indicates why they got that figure. He is the youngest of the 12 signings this window and will continue to develop for years.
Joe Hart (34) is by some margin better than any of the three keepers who shuffled through the starting line-up last season. He has already brought authority – as well as saves (!) – to the team.
Five years ago, James McCarthy (30) was miles out of our reach. The subsequent seasons have not been kind, as the player’s appearance stats were subverted by various injuries. 30 minutes into his Celtic career, he again missed out through injury. James has controlled games in the EPL. If we get him fit, he will play in our most important games. Let’s hope.
Filipe Jota (22) has skill and incredible pace. Last season he was on loan at Real Valladolid, who finished 19th in La Liga and were relegated. There is a rule of thumb I used whenever Patrick Roberts moves. Patrick is a slight and skilful player, similar to Jota, but since leaving Celtic, Patrick has mostly played for teams at the bottom end of the table, where robust defending is required, often at the cost of creative players. The slight, pacey and skilful players should ply their trade with clubs operating at the top end of the table.
There is development work ahead for Jota but he starts from a respectable high.
Cameron Carter-Vickers’ (23) signing was not quite as late as John Guidetti (another story) but he slipped through the window with minutes to spare. My big worry about central defence is that I don’t expect Christopher Jullien to contribute much before Christmas (he is a slow starter to the season), leaving us short of cover for the Europa League.
Jota and Cameron both have the incentive of a permanent deal with Celtic to play for. This worked well for Odsonne, let’s hope for the same.
Liam Scales (23) is the same age as Cameron and will hope to force his way into either central defence or left back. £500k is decent money to pay for a League of Ireland player, his addition should ensure we do not force Nir Bitton back into the middle of the back line again.
Liam Shaw (20) and Osaze Urhoghide (20) are unlikely to see much game time this season.
Do you want to know how important it is that we sold Odsonne Edouard and (to a lesser extent) Ryan Christie? Wait and see what happens across the city, where a team who publicly made it known they needed to sell players were unable to do so.
You either manage your assets or you fail to manage your assets and they expire looking more like liabilities. Under different circumstances, Odsonne, Ryan and Kristoffer Ajer would have been sold a year ago, but the decision was made to retain them for the 10-in-a-row season. I know, you all said “Sell them!” at the time………
None of them attracted clubs of the calibre that Kieran and Moussa did. That we got north of £30m for them from EPL bottom dwellers is above my expectations. There are deductions for sell-on clauses, of course, but this money, in addition to the revenue from Jeremie Frimpong (minus sell-on) and Patryk Klimala will have a huge impact on Scottish football in the years ahead.
Leigh Griffiths moved on, thank goodness. Boli Bolingoli and Vasilis Barkas did not, both will wither on the vine.
So, are we going to win the league? I’m feeling good about it.
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Paul67
13 players signed its a splendid first window for Dom and Ange (remember you posted it was a complete rebuild? ) and players that refuse even new improved Celtic contracts as predicted, all away by deadline day. If it was as tragic as some posters said last year, and during summer, then you’ll also now know that it will take more than one window to move back in command.
Jota and Abada on either flank is something to look forward to with Juranovic, Giakoumakis, and McCarthy still to get going, Julien to return, then AP has done a very good job in two months. Kyogo and to a lesser extent Abada have been revelations. The entire squad are now playing for Ange the biggest change at Celtic is that when you watch, you don’t feel down anymore.
I think Ajeti might yet come out from under Edouard’s old shadow and would like to see him get a run in the side, as a poacher. As soon as it was clear that Liam Scales was the fourth left back at the club, there was no chance of another big money splash at replacing Keiran Tierney. It’s Taylor, Montgomery, and Scales. AP recalled Boli had a look in pre season and said no thanks, but honestly who wouldn’t?
If Julien stops the drama queen act, and gets his head on, then two from Welsh , Starfelt, Julien, Carter-Vickers should see us fairly solid in the price frozen nights at CP, in the Europa. I see Juranovic as RB but commend Celtic for extending Tony Ralston’s deal in June. Midfield, is far from perfect, James McCarthy was an easy signing, too easy to be Celtic’s DM week in and week out.
Reckon we’ll be there or thereabouts come January, won’t need loans or debt and we’ll buy again, because we’re well off.
It appears to be a positive transfer window and it’s not often we believe that. Time will tell. To win this league we may have to win the remaining 3 games against sevco. They will drop points to other clubs but so will we. The huge advantage sevco have over us is their referees and their SFA. We now need to factor in the Scottish government.
We have a huge task ahead of us.
CELTIC MAC on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 1:19 PM
Ah , so THAT’S why we got rid of Gary Mackay-Steven .
See some comments on Sevco package at £117 for home ticket scheme
Its worse than that
They have to pay ALL by Monday 6th September
(our HTS takes money before each game and their’s was similar so shouts of “why change”)
But even better was 1 guy commented he was getting charged £2000 everyone chuckled
and laughed saying typical Ibrox tkt office . But more and more posted in my inbox >£8000 to
purchase.
One guy posted his inbox and posted
For him and his Kid
Lyon £39 each
Slavia £2000 each
Brondy £2000 each
PS £6 service charge :-) :-)
Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Still think the squad is light on numbers and quality. Ange will be doing some job if we are in spitting distance of the Baddies come the January transfer window…
Is that transfer window enough to win the league this season?
To use the tired old cliche, if the new Greek guy can emulate Kyogo and hit the ground running, then we have a serious number of goals in this team. i just hope we have not taken a punt on a one season wonder. The Dutch top flight is better than ours so there are grounds for optimism.
Hopefully Ange and the coaching staff can use the international break to get some fitness into those that need it.
BGFC – Given his age not much there in terms of video. If you have Celtic TV you’ll see a few clips of him from the games. My info was knowing the Watford setup locally here and the fact they know me and the boy are Celtic fans. Big, big loss for them and Chelsea had been courting him for some time. Seen as a real coup for us. He played as a midfielder for them but interestingly we are playing him at CH….good footballer, big strides and great strength. Hope Ange bloods him this season.
HH
The addition of Carter Vickers certainly tips the scales towards a better window. His addition means it’s that less bit likely that we’ll see Bitton at CB again. For that alone I’m delighted with his addition, let’s hope he’s more of a Bobo than a Shane.
A massive league season now awaits. Win it and we’ve the CL riches, lose it and I don’t see the same levels of equity in the squad to fund additions next summer.
As for the Sevco and their finances, I’ve long given up trying to understand how they only buy players while selling sell no one. Poor Alfredo must feel like he’s in the hotel California.
ERNIE LYNCH on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 1:41 PM
Good question and who knows, most thought the window last year was a good one but no one expected Duffy, for example, to so badly perform!!
So we got CCV in then, we sure needed another CB, no scooby if he is any good or not, only time will tell, I hope he hits the ground running as they say.
The one for me that we need more than anyone is James McCarthy, get him fit and keep him fit we will have won a watch, nay we will have won a Rolex, but we need to get him fit.
We did Ok in the window considering the shambles we were in, now it will take time and patience, will we win the league, presently I would say it’s 60-40 against, that is only going on what I have seen so far, we had chances against the hun and didn’t take them, we need to start taking them when they come else we sure won’t win it, but I have faith that Ange will work his magic.
I do think we missed out on the young fella from St J tho, gonna be a cracking player, PNE will make millions on him.
A decent window on paper. The question now is how they play and gel. Hopefully they will. On the other matter of comparisons, I have to agree with those who have said that Moussa was a better player. He was an out and out centre forward, who could hold up the ball and score goals. Maybe Kyogo will match him in time.
HH
…that the money will be prioritised for other (defensive and midfield) positions.
—
money will be prioritised for other positions –
specifically CEO and a few other board positions
thats the reality of PLCs
when money is tight everything else in the business suffers, apart from their remuneration package
Ernie,
Dunno. They won;t hit the heights of last year and we will be better than last year. Will that be enough to bridge the gap of their system and continuity versus our chaos and development?
Too many unknowns for me to predict it either way….
I know. Scheidt answer…
HH
Ernie
Thats a hand grenade of a question on here!!
I think we’re still a little light, both in quantity and quality of genuine first team players.
Still much chat re sevco imploding. We may need this to happen.
If they stay intact and organised, are we 25 points better off than the squad from last season?
The transfer window was very well managed. I really couldn’t expect Ange or Dom to have done more.
Cheers BIG WAVY.
Me and WeeBGFC are going to the Celtic B game versus Morton on Saturday, so will see him in the flesh.
I’ll report back.
HH
BGFC
JHB ages ago,
We buy players in the £3-5M transfer fee range because these are the players that are willing to sign Celtic contracts, which command wages around £15K – 20K per week.
£10M million upwards and they wanna be Edouard, who knows where he can get 60K a week.
Celtic fantasists should be able to work out that its not possible to earn 60k per week playing football in Scotland, its the same every year when the window slams shut.
You could try borrowing the money and issuing illegal contracts with side letters oh but wait………………
Its not rocket salad CSC
WESTCRAIGS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 1:39 PM
It appears to be a positive transfer window and it’s not often we believe that. Time will tell. To win this league we may have to win the remaining 3 games against sevco. They will drop points to other clubs but so will we. The huge advantage sevco have over us is their referees and their SFA. We now need to factor in the Scottish government.
We have a huge task ahead of us.
—————————
I actually think we will go on quite an unbeaten run.
I agree about beating them though.
D :)
Is there a couple of out of contract players we could tap into to bolster the squad ?
D :)
Someone saying the Spurs centre back is a poor mans Shane Duffy ,disgraceful comment,don’t think you are a Celtic Supporter coming out with a comment like that
Timbhoy163
You don’t do irony?
It’s a bit of an in-house gag, from WITS.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was desperate to come to Celtic last night but was knocked back because of his name.
As was Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Carl Starfelt looks a decent defender, his strengths appear to be basic defending, getting blocks in, headers, that side of the game. Can’t say he’s looked confident actually kicking a football and is quite slow.
I would have thought being able to kick a football would be no1 priority.
glendalystonsils
It had to be done.
The Green Brigade were up in arms
Jimdom – Looking at Georgios Giakoumakis’ career history it looks a bit patchy, but I believe there’s perhaps a pattern to his scoring and periods of success. He started at Platanias where he was initially sparingly used, scoring few goals in his first years. In season 16/17 he was given a regular starting position which paid dividends, ending the season with 11 goals in 26 games.
He got a “big” move to AEK Athens in 2017 where again he was used sparingly, mostly as a substitute in the last 10-20 minutes of games. Over his 3 seasons with AEK he started just 10 games, appearing as sub in a further 30, and scored just 3 goals.
During that time he was also loaned to OFI Crete where he started 6 games (4 more as sub) and scored 2 goals, and also Gornik Zabrze where he started 9 and scored 3 goals.
Which brought him to VVV Venlo where, as we know, he was given a starting place and again took full advantage. He played 30 games and scored 26 goals.
What does all this mean? If you want to get the best from Georgios he has to be a regular starter.
The board groupies are back and they have many tales to tell.
PL and DD must be a pair of honeys to get this level of devotion.
Three years ago — plus a couple of months — the biggest issue we had was the size of the main stand rebuild. Now after PL taking over the running of the club in that fateful summer we have just had a train wreck of a season and we all took a collective sigh of relief after it was announced that a ECh level CB had joined the club on a 12 month loan.
That is how bad things are for us at the moment.
Yet still they clap and the revisionists have moved on to wages.
For the record we have had at least two people at CP earning the equivalent of £60K per week.
One was BR — globally renowned coach and football personality.
The other was PL — second rate property bean counter of no consequence outside his close engagement with DD’s financial interests.
With both gone we can and should pay someone £60K pw if it is off benefit to the team and the club. To announce otherwise is just playing to the fears of the section of the support that is uncomfortable with big numbers relating to money.
Now that we have made our first efforts regarding the rebuilding of the squad then we should be planning our efforts to become the club we want to be.
For me that is a total focus on the football on the field.
That focus would then allow us the win the SPL and access the CL proper.
Rinse and repeat — building as we go with player investment and development leading to some moving on to bigger financial rewards.
Our target should be a T/O of £200mill by 2030.
We should not be scared of paying out £50K / £100K wages to the right talent.
We have to grow a team so that would involve youth and B team efforts.
If we continue to focus of the TFOD2.1 for cheap returns and easy money then we will fail.
We need to leave them behind and set ourselves new challenges.
Last season was the result of this hame ‘l dae me business plan.
PL couldn’t deliver because he did not have the right skill set.
Hopefully DMcK is allowed to take us forward towards a different / better future.
TIMBHOY163 on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 2:18 PM
Someone saying the Spurs centre back is a poor mans Shane Duffy ,disgraceful comment,don’t think you are a Celtic Supporter coming out with a comment like that
——
Oh, he’s a Tim alright.
He’s just a very naughty Bhoy
With the driest sense of humour
HH jg
” Shaw and Urhoghide are unlikely to see much game time this season”
Then why did we sign them? All we are doing is holding back their development. Do other clubs sign central defenders who are “projects”‘ ?
And McCarthy is a huge risk who has been given a four-year contract.
Otherwise the window has not been bad.
Despite what Paul says, Sevco do have some decent players.
Apparently, even according to the MSM, Barisic was for the off after Sunday’s game and there would be no shortage of takers from mid level clubs.
Plus, they never seem to have anybody who wants to treble their wages or fancies a new challenge whereas most of our better players do.
An Dun – now I have Alfredo’s song in my head 😃
“Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! “
The SW refugees — as mentioned by many — why did we buy them?
Too old for the B Team — huge success that it is — yet nowhere near ready for the 1st team.
Was this the last gasp of PL’s Moneyball dream?
Did we get lucky that the 2 targets from PNE went elsewhere?
Was PL addicted to hoovering up out of contract rough diamonds?
Does PL have a clue about anything?
boooooooo
boooooooo
boooooooo
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 1:08 PM
Could someone check that this PLB’s account hasn’t been hacked – that post was verging on the positive….
PETETHEBEAT on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 2:55 PM
Despite what Paul says, Sevco do have some decent players.
Apparently, even according to the MSM, Barisic was for the off after Sunday’s game and there would be no shortage of takers from mid level clubs.
Plus, they never seem to have anybody who wants to treble their wages or fancies a new challenge whereas most of our better players do.
……
All the Hun players would love to treble their wages … problem is they are a bit of a throwback bunch of big cluggers at the back … basic tight formation in midfield… high swinging crosses from both flanks and forwards who fall down a la Harry Kane style …. Their collective sum is better than the individual parts
They were desperate for the transfer money … they got hee haw as most good teams don’t want to play like them …. May sound a bit churlish …. But no one is biting tells a tale
What happened to the Morelos money?
What happened to the TavPen money?
What happened to the Kent money?
What happened to the Kamara money?
What happened to the Hagi money?
What happened to the Barasic money?
What happened to the Patterson money?
There may be trouble ahead CSC
It’s like a broken record in here…
“People” who just won’t give up….
They try to drag this blog down…
Why don’t we just move on…
We have practically a full new first 11…
We have a new Manager…
We have a new way of playing football…
We have a new Chief Exec…..
Let’s start to put all out energy into supporting
Our Club….
We’ve still got a bit of a way to go….
Let’s all just enjoy this journey…..
As there’s worse journeys to be on…..
Than the journey we are on just now….
Will Ange play 3 at the back? GG & Kyoga the front 2?