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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Make that 2:0
Just as the Danes go 1 up…KT out-jumped at the back post
Oh dear…now 2…cannae believe am watching this p*sh
KT and Craig Gordon not covering themselves in glory. Scotland lose 2 goals in a minute.
I was just about to write 5 minutes ago that I thought the Scottish game could be a cricket score for Denmark, when Cathac’s brother rang me about a penalty given to Portugal. By the time the penalty was taken, Scotland were 2 down.
Tom McL
Ffs ..if we equated this stuff to SDA there’d would be murder
Why did Scotland extend Clarke’s contract 2 weeks before we are eliminated from the World Cup again? Anyone see this sad team beating Austria in a week’s time?
Scotland really arny very good are they, I do feel for the Celtic bhoys tho
THELURKINTIM on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 8:03 PM
Oh dear…now 2…cannae believe am watching this p*sh
___
and we moan about bringing in too many of these wee skilful players, unable to cope with the big bad Scottish guys 🤔
Freely admit the Sevco finances interest me.
Always enjoy a good puzzle.
I don’t see the point in recycling high end transfer fee expectations straight from the Sevco crazy house.
No basis in fact whatsoever. Pure spin.
The deliberate absence of huge chunks of data actually fuels this nonsense.
Genuine question – in nine years of trading has Sevco EVER sold a player for £1m or more?
In terms of what we know or can surmise?
Sevco likely had a medium confidence level of reaching the CL group stages thus triggering a €15.6m payment.
Outcome? Didn’t happen
Sevco likely had a very high expectation of reaching the final CL Qualifier, triggering a €5m payment.
Outcome? : Didn’t happen
Sevco likely had a high confidence level that one of their so-called superstars could be sold for an eight figure fee (an “Edouard or Ajer type fee” wee Stewart might say)
Outcome : Didn’t happen
After licking their wounds from CL elimination Sevco likely had a medium-high confidence level that Alkmaar would do us … leaving them to trouser all of Scotland’s share of the Europa League TV Market pool
Outcome : Whoopsie !!
Add to the above …. VAT, Corporation Tax, 3rd payment for Kent, failed share issue, Ashley etc etc
Hhmm
Aye, if we had honest referees who applied the rules of the game fairly, we could play ghirls and we could give thems a real challenge, IMO of course >:)
While I would usually want Scotland to do well (and I’m only too well aware that Celtic owe the SFA sfa), one good thing may come of our not qualifying for the Qatar World Cup: players like Callum may get a well needed rest.
BADGERHC
Youve swallowed the virus fear mongering campaign hook line and sinker.
Its a media manufactured crisis .
Doubt -and some clinical thinking required. Youve been conned.
Gordon nutmegged for second goal. In the foreseeable future, we will be in the pot with Andorra, Liechtenstein, Gibralter and the Faroes for Euro and World Cup draws. This is the worst Scotland team I have seen since we got beat 9-3 at Wembley. 33 minutes gone and Schmeichel hasn’t touched the ball yet. I can even remember Jimmy Bone of Partick Thistle scoring 2 goals in a 4-1 victory here. We are going in the opposite direction to countries like Denmark and Iceland, because they have a plan, a structure, and they work at it. The SFA do sweet fanny adams to improve the Scottish game. Effin disgrace.
I am on the flight path for the rescue copter that goes out to the isles and delivers the patients to RAH and QEH.
If I can get picked up magnetically now it will save me petrol,
Paul67
I really can’t agree with your delight at this transfer window .
Starfelt has been very shakey.
Kyogo very good .
Abada has been good against the poorer sides and invisible against Sevco .
Hart goes from very good to a bombscare.
We have income from the sales of Frimpong , Ajer ,Edouard , Christie ,Klimala,and Hendry.
We needed to get Barkas ,Ajeti ,Bolingoli , off the wage bill.
I suspect that we are still paying the vast majority of Leigh Griffiths large salary ,
6 weeks after we could have freed him and his salary.
Cameron Carlton Vickers has been loaned out for 4 seasons to 4 different clubs .
Wilder at Sheffield Utd cut his loan short after 4 months ,and sent him back to THFC .
Bournemouth didn’t make an effort to sign him ,even for the championship.
Scales is unproven out with the ROI.
SHamrock Rovers investor ,Dermot Desmond ,has his fingerprints all over this deal.
The league table won’t lie .
There will be many who will attack me for this negative post .
Dig me up when the season is over.
My only hope is that ANJE thinks that there is better value to be had when the transfer window opens in Japan ,during January.
Giakoumakis is a gamble .
My antenna is up that Ajax,PSV ,Feyenoord ,or Alkmarr made not attempt to sign the leagues top goal scorer for what is supposed to be a bargain fee .
Nadir Cifti springs to mind .
Jota was at Valladolid last season .
They made no attempt to sign him.
Dom. Mackay’s own words were that his strap line for Celtic was to be “ World Class “ in all we do .
These are not “ World Class “ signings .
Don’t blame me for such an over ambitious statement.
Ask Dom Mackay .
He made it .
We are capable of winning this league .
But only if all our horses come in as winners.
That rarely happens.
Meanwhile we haven’t beaten Sevco this decade ,in 7 attempts .
Hurting .
You bet I am .
TT
Scottish tactics are from a different decade, pish poor pint time🍺🍺
THELURKINTIM on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 8:01 PM
Great Asimov quote. Here’s a slightly longer one from Carl Sagan written in the 90s that is eerily prescient…
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.”
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 8:14 PM
—–
Their plight must always interest us – they are our only opponent in a two-horse league.
They are not stupid, they know exactly what they are doing – the conundrum is how are they making it work?
They are charging CL prices for EL games – can you imagine if we done this, we’d have the full GB & Trust outside Celtic Park with pitchforks and fifty-metre boycott banners.
Btw – hope the Danes ‘rub it in”
Hanley, Cooper, Adams, Fraser, McLean, McKenna are unbelievably poor. Callum completely anonymous. Even Robertson and KT are not at the races. We are being overrun.
WTF has happened to KT?
Arsno itis
BADGERHC-well said.
Absolute irresponsible arseholes spouting utter pish
Ball like a hot potato to Scotland players. Can’t get rid of it quick enough
Half time and Schmeichel touched the ball once from a routine passback. Scotland staggeringly poor.
Scotland play stupid football – no intelligence whatsoever in their play! At one point in the game, the Scottish center half (cleverly) jumps and chest the ball to regain possession in a tight spot , after that composed play , he plays the ball back to a Scotland player in load of space – what does he do – humor it up the park.
This team has no game plan.
Its like kilmarnock despite having an array of midfield ball players – we play long balls and bypass them.
And a team with Shane Duffy leads 1-0 away to a team featuring Pepe, Silva, Fernandes, and Christiano.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 7:26 PM
‘As for your comment about Bill Gates? You need to stay away from the internet.’
I wouldn’t be too hasty to defend Gates, best buds with Epstein…
If tonight’s game is anything to go by, I am grateful we never went near McKenna for one. Dire. Mind you, he is not alone. I wouldn’t give pass marks to any of them, including the goalie. Thump up the park aimlessly seems to be the only tactic. The SFA need to address the football culture in Scotland. Get rid of the cluggers in the game and let the football players play. Teams like Denmark can only have developed because their whole approach must be radically different to what passes for football too often in this country.
TINYTIM on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 8:24 PM – if I am not mistaken, you were convinced earlier that this will all end very badly. Looks like you still think that.
Abada is 19, has been productive, and did not make much impact away at TRFC (against Barisic) in his first big game for us. Give the young guy a break.
Hart has saved more potential goals against us than the one goal against at AZ. Give the guy a break.
Cameron Carlton Vickers – no-one knows how it will pan out. If it does not work out we will not sign him. Give the guy a break.
Giórgos Giakoumákis – has not even thought about kicking a ball for us. If he does not work out then OK, we can live with the modest transfer fee. Give the guy a break.
Jota – no-one knows how it will pan out. If it does not work out we will not sign him. Give the guy a break.
Results vs TRFC – why focus on this decade?
Dom McKay has stated what he wants Celtic to be. He can’t realise that overnight. Give the guy a break.
I know you are a big Celtic man & you want the best for Celtic.
All the best.
Various European countries do not allow tackling until u15s level to encourage skills and passing
Here, on the other hand celebrate players being upended by the opposition at u11s level
FRANKTERRY
The man said Gates is behind the so-called Covid vaccine conspiracy. I hinted he was talking shite, and you read that as me defending Gates? Dear oh dear.
31003,
That’s the kind of nonsense we have to get rid of.
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD – Spot on and it starts with referees clamping down on the cluggers to allow talent to flourish – how many talented players chuck it at 16-18 when they get hacked off the pitch
Tinytim,
MCKays world class soundbite will come back to bite him.
Let’s review Celtics progress on 1st Oct, 1Nov, 1 Dec and 1 Jan. Paul67 prediction is that we will be top of the league. My assertion is that Ange will be back in Oz enjoying barbecues on the Gold Coast. The truth may be somewhere in between.
McKay is Lawwells lackey and wouldn’t know world class if it bit him in the arse. We need an alternative state of the club report not one where failure is dressed up as success for a bloated former CEO who knows he is a failure. The guilt is taking Lawwell in a bad way —- but he has 20 mil in compensation.
Still believe he should give at least 50% to Celtic foundation for cheating the club.
Steve Clarke or Ange?
The board got one thing right at least.
No hesitation in regurgitating a quote I made weeks ago,
Bamboo,you are a lunatic.
LUCKY CODY on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 8:53 PM
Tinytim,
MCKays world class soundbite will come back to bite him
—————
you should read the annual reports.
i did last few days.
the “being world class” statement has been in the mission statement for many many years, it is not mckays.
ONENIGHTINLISBON on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2021 8:54 PM
Steve Clarke or Ange
The board got one thing right at least
👍👏👏👏👏👏👏