Balde, Hooper, summer challenges

13 June and Celtic have signed a striker!  Do we have some important games coming up early in the season?  6’4” Amido Balde joined Sporting Lisbon three years ago but never made an appearance for the club.

After three loan deals he joined Vitoria Guimaraes a year ago, where he caught the eye of Celtic scouts.  At 22-years-old, he is right in the sweet spot of Celtic’s recruitment strategy: fully developed physically, old enough to be considered prime first team material but with many years of prime football ahead.

Playing for Celtic is quite different than playing for Vitoria Guimaraes, so it may take Amido a period of adjustment to settle into life as a Glasgow sporting celebrity, but he is clearly the man Neil Lennon and the scouts wanted.  Based on that, I’m happy.

Despite what could be described as cover, and the fact that the player has declined a new contract, I’m still not happy to sell Gary Hooper.  We have lots to do this summer before that moves up the agenda.

Welcome to Celtic, Amido.

The raffle for a signed Celtic top in aid of 1254125 ends early tomorrow morning. THIS IS THE LAST CALL FOR TICKETS, which cost only £1 each. Get in there…..

Pick up a book, Heart of a Lion, a manual, if you like, on how it’s done here:

For a proper read of CQN Magazine cick here.  Use the navigation buttons at the bottom to flick through pages or zoom in.
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