Sky Sports reports that Celtic have agreed terms with Benfica for Paulo Bernardo and with Aston Villa for goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo are both encouraging. Both players are 22 years old and well within the ‘young prospect’ category. News of Kasper Schmeichel’s impending arrival caused concerns that Brendan had navigated away from our developmental strategy.
Sinisalo is a full Finland cap and made 50 appearances for third-tier Exeter City last term. That’s too much of a gap to bridge to Champions League level, but enough to establish the player’s credentials.
We are unlikely to learn the full details of the deal with Benfica for Paulo in the short term. After successful experience with both clubs with Jota, Benfica will surely want a large cut of any resale value for a player who is already a regular in the Celtic team.
We are still filling in the gaps created at the end of last season but these deals would represent solid progress before the start of the season.
This morning’s news that Gareth Soutgate has resigned as England manager will remind you that last year a leading Scottish newspaper, found someone prepared to say Michael Beale was “nailed on” to become England manager and that he could lead them to World Cup glory. This is the world in which we try to achieve objective football comment.
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BIG JIMMY @ 1.35 👍
Coneybhoy and BelmontBrian will be on soon. Quick Celtic, make a signing announcement. 😂
Bada
“Hazard was nervous as a kitten,new guy got POTY last season”
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And Hazard won GOTY in Finland’s top division in 2022 and played for a team that avoided relegation from the Championship last year, as opposed to a mid-table league One club for Sinisalo
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
Don’t encourage him. 😂
BSR
Sinisalo is 1.9M
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Nor Hazard was and is 1.98- 3 inches taller
Is there no end to this folly?🤔
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 16TH JULY 2024 1:40 PM
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
Don’t encourage him. 😂
……………………….
God loves a trier
Just got arrested in Asda, Toryglen.
I forgot to pay for helium balloons at the self checkout! daft me! Police came, held me for a while, then they let me go!
The Big Jimmy jokes book 👍
What is the purpose of ” The ARC” at Corner Flags ?
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alongside ripped socks and wearing them over the knees a modern tendency to put the ball at the very outside edge of the arc does my head in.
what on earth advantage is gained by the taker, the ball is going to travel many feet, usually in the air, what difference does moving the ball to the edge make.
is it a confidence thing ?
also, the ball is often just outside the arc, yet to see anyone being told to place the ball properly.
As a counterbalance- here is Sinisalo’s show reel
Some good saves- one looks like it was Bosun Lawal he thwarted.
And 2 saves from penalties too
https://x.com/StewartRoss89/status/1813144078902784208?t=k14OW26xAoyyK5rEGl5ENg&s=19
SAINT STIVS
also, the ball is often just outside the arc, yet to see anyone being told to place the ball properly.
As long as part of the ball is overhanging the arc, placement is legal, even if no part of the ball is touching the arc.
BURNLEY78 on 16TH JULY 2024 12:09 PM
Really pleased re Bernardo. Also hearing the gk is spoken of as Neimi level from a Finnish contact.
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What do you mean he’s finished? He’s only 22!
the ball has to touch the line, not overhang it –
like tennis, it is either in or out.
the rules –
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The ball does not technically need to be inside the arc as such, it merely needs to touch either the touchline, corner or end line for it to be legitimate.
Players take this to extreme but because it is touching ever so slightly, they are playing within the rules.
Tradition holds that only clubs that have won the FA Cup have the right to use triangular corner flags rather than the regular square ones. However, this tradition has no basis in The Football Association’s (FA) regulations and clubs are free to decide what shape of flags they use.
History
The origin for the tradition is unknown; however, one possible explanation came that Cardiff City after winning the 1927 FA Cup Final adopted triangular corner flags to commemorate the victory as well as reminding their South Wales derby rivals Swansea City of this.
From then on, it became an accepted tradition that only winners of the FA Cup would be entitled to use triangular corner flags. This theory was popularised in the 1997 film Twin Town. While a number of FA Cup-winning clubs including Arsenal and Aston Villa do use triangular corner flags, some such as Liverpool do not. Some clubs that have never won the FA Cup use triangular corner flags, such as AFC Wimbledon, though they view themselves as the successors of Wimbledon who did.
The tradition has no legal basis in the FA’s regulations. Indeed, most clubs did not even make an order to start using triangular flags as it was often left up to the club’s groundsmen who made the decision. Former English referee David Elleray in his capacity as the technical director of the International Football Association Board stated there is freedom with regard to how clubs chose to select their corner flags. However, newspapers have erroneously asserted that triangular corner flags are a right for FA Cup winners only. Likewise it is a common question in pub quizzes which incorrectly assert the tradition is a right.
anyways who cares, it is just annoing me.
like empty unused but paid for seats.
tom, i did enjoy your contribution about the supporters club bus and access to tickets. quite interesting, it has been 20 years os so since i was in the supporters club, i might join now that bishopton has a bus.
I was very hungary, so I quickly finnish my turkey
This business of sell-on clauses.
It seems logical that substantial sell-on clauses are a mechanism by which the buying club can acquire a player for a smaller initial outlay. The selling club’s sweetener is jam tomorrow by claiming a chunk of the profits from any future transfer.
This kind of deal benefits buying clubs if they have cashflow difficulties. For the selling club, it’s a risk, but it may prove fruitful if the player is young, talented, and likely to develop and appreciate.
Celtic feel that Paulo Bernardo is a talented young player (and I agree). Last year, Celtic negotiated an “option to buy” at around £6m but we are now led to believe this has been haggled down to £3.5m. So far so good, but the downside appears to be that a substantial chunk of any future sale will be payable to Benfica.
Celtic are not a club with cash flow issues.
For argument’s sake, Let’s assume the sell-on clause is 40% (I’ve seen 50% quoted) and that the £6m and £3.5m figures are accurate. If Bernardo is sold one day for a fee of say £11.5m, that would represent a profit of £8m. 40% would be payable to Benfica = £3.2m. This is £0.7m more than Celtic saved by not meeting the £6m option to buy in the first place, something that the club could easily do.
If Bernardo develops into a £20m player the madness of this kind of deal becomes all the more stark.
Celtic are not a financially distressed club, so why are they acting like one?
SFTB- Can only judge him on when he was with us,never looked confident or convincing, I know he was young but didn’t seem up to it
Sinisalo on flight to the US,as was O’Riley
Aye but who knows if it ever was a 6m agreed buy out.
Benfica are not a financially distressed club so why are they acting like it.
Mistertaximan
Has Celtic or anyone at Benfica ever said that a fee of around £6m was agreed with the ‘option to buy’? That was pure newspaper speculation, it may well be 100% correct or it could be rubbish
Saint Stivs
“Aye, but who knows if it ever was a 6m agreed buyout.”
Quite so, but my central point is that a club with money does not need to bargain this way. Celtic can agree on a fee and pay it. That way Celtic retains all future profits. Or do they not back their judgment of the player and prefer to hedge?
VILJAMI….
I hope our new Goalie is ” JAMMY”…..In fact I hope any new signings are ” JAMMY Bassa’s” ?
LOL
HH.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 16TH JULY 2024 1:32 PM
“Am I reading these stats wrong?”
I’m not sure. I’m a sucker for good news about a new signing so when I saw it on twitter I believed it without looking into it :)
Happy that we’ve broken out off last summer’s development transfer straight jacket and have gone for a mix this summer – as we did under Ange in season one.
Disappointed not to see Idah on the plane to the US. I’m all for tough negotiations and getting value but Idah should be doing his preseason with us if the manager has identified him as a key target.
St Stivs
If you are still Hungary, take a bit of Turkey,dip it in Greece and fry it in Japan
MISTERTAXIMAN on 16TH JULY 2024 2:38 PM
“Quite so, but my central point is that a club with money does not need to bargain this way.”
The club has money partly because of the decisions it makes and the way it negotiates and structures deals. I think it’s fairly safe to say they will have done their sums and worked out the best deal based on valuations and future income from any transfers
AN DÚN on 16TH JULY 2024 3:16 PM
There’s more than one flight out to the USA in the next couple of weeks
there is also the risk that a player doesnt make a bigger transfer fee when leaving celtic.
did ajeti?
matt o. usa bound
https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article33256538.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200e/0_Celtic-FC-Media-Access.jpg
Viljami Sinisalo is pictured as the Celtic squad depart for a pre-season tour of the USA from Glasgow Airport
https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article33256662.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200e/0_JS339517113.jpg
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 16TH JULY 2024 1:32 PM
I think the difference is that XG prevented would be actual saves whereas XG against would include shots off target. I’ve seen
“Best XG prevented of any goalkeeper in the English leagues last season”
banded about on a few sites the last few days. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but the only source I can find to confirm that is
https://www.devonlive.com/sport/football/football-news/aston-villas-vil-sinisalo-helping-9093044
published on 11th February which suggests it should come with an asterisk saying *as of that date and not be taken at face value. This article from 22nd March has his XG prevented down to 5.7
https://therealefl.co.uk/2024/03/22/the-best-goalkeeper-in-league-one-stat-attack/
which still led League One at that time. That article goes on to rank him as the 4th best goalkeeper in League One fwiw which I don’t think would carry the same gravitas amongst our support. I wouldn’t get too bogged down in these numbers though, stats in football have a lot more variables than American sports. Most promising is the quote from Caldwell in the first link
“I can’t speak highly enough of him as a person and a character,” manager Caldwell said. “Day one, he met us in Newton Abbot at 5am in the morning in the gym and he was the first one in, he showed what he is all about as a person and human being. He is a top goalkeeper, has a fantastic career ahead of him, is producing top performances and helping us win points. As important as number 9s are to win you games of football, our goalkeeper has won us points at big moments and I am delighted with him.”
It’s interesting how the timing of such signings can shape the narrative. If he had been signed first with no mention of KS then there may well have been a timplosion. As it is, we needed an improvement at number 2 anyway so we can take a flyer on him sitting behind KS for at least a year. This is what you want from projects; sit on the bench, learn, develop and shine when given an opportunity. Not be thrown in at the deep end in the Champions League. As it stands I’m content with the goalkeeping situation and Bernardo(if concluded) brings us depth, but as it stands the squad is still weaker than how we finished last season, which was already weaker than the season before, likely to lose our POTY, a hundred odd million in the bank and yet to see any indication that we’re being braver in the transfer market as the manager asked for in February. A few pumpings in America may sharpen the focus
One of the benefits of having middle aged accountants and lawyers in charge is that the rudimentary maths involved in calculating the value from a deal like this and the slightly complex negocustons involved are very strsightforward for the experts
Spelling too
why dont celtic just sing gooder players
Atalanta and Juventus dither
MISTERTAXIMAN,
izzat no that thing that CQN wont talk aboot-amortization
discuss
HH