With 26 career goals, 25 of which came in a Dundee United shirt, £1.5m sounds a tad generous for Nadir Ciftci. Celtic’s earlier offer of £900k sounds more like the mark but Wigan have validated United’s target price with a deal with meets their requirements, if not that of the player’s.
Is he a player to improve Celtic? Quite possibly, he’ll bring something we don’t have at the moment – a sticky out ball – but it’s a big ask to expect him to step up to Champions League levels. Signing that level of player might take Champions League money, but we’ll need to get there first, which is why we need to bolster the attack quickish.
Two years ago we talked about the number of senior games a good player is able to make before he’s noticed by those to rich and lazy to do as much low-level research Celtic must do to unearth a gem.
Victor Wanyama made 51 appearances before becoming a Celtic player, Virgil van Dijk made 62. It’s likely both spent the bulk of those games without anyone paying much attention to them, Celtic’s scouts are likely to have been alerted when they have little more than a dozen or so games left at their previous clubs.
Ciftci’s made 67 senior appearances. If he has what it takes, the world will know about it sooner rather than later.
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Tonyd67
Hearing big JJ was in the Brazen yesterday . Hope he was in good spirits . HH
Anyone know a good Celtic pub in Kansas?
lennon’s passion
10:43 on 6 July, 2015
Celtic were in for Vossen.Agent informed Celtic Burnley were interested. Agent told if he wants to sign for Burnley before Celtic he’s not a player we’re interested in. Well I hope that happened.
Celtic wouldent go into a bidding war on wages for a player who wants to sign for Burnley.
And neither should they.
jamesgang
Welcome home.
vintage 67
When we signed Berkovic I remember hearing Dominik Diamond on the radio saying all Celtic need to do is give him the ball and no one in Scotland will get near him.
Certainly have worries over Ciftci’s temperament , but like any player we sign I always wish them my best.
Celtic Football Club
@celticfc
The sun is shining on Paradise this morning. The #LisbonLions stand is now complete.
https://mobile.twitter.com/celticfc/status/617969100401299456/photo/1
Vintage 67
Hail hail, sir. I don’t know if you’ve read back his posts from the last couple of nights. Some of his views are distinctly anti Celtic and, IMO, he is simply trying to poison our site. He is quite happy to play rebel songs in his taxi if he thinks it will earn him a tip, yet he comes on here criticising Celtic fans for singing said songs. Contemptible!
channelislandcelt
Yes he was, and on form, and looking great, big JOHN Hartson called him last week and gave him a great lift, what a wonderful guy. HH
Personally don’t think that Ciftci is worth the same cash as Adam Matthews in transfer fee.
I am not convinced by the guy myself. I assume our coaching staff have watched him closely and I also assume that our coaching staff have tapped into his former team mates for information.
Dundee United used to be Dundee Hibernian. At this rate they may as well be called Dundee Celtic, we should buy them over make them our feeder club and play our friendly and pre-season games in Dundee and our fans can enjoy a peh.
LB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brggk0nxOQg
Never mind yer podium nonsense – I bags first use of the classic ‘ he’s got good feet for a big man’.
If this was a vid of an unknown foreign quantity we’d be clambering over each other to give PL the ultimatum of signing him or else.
If he wants to come, is keen to impress, and can reproduce that sort of ability in a Hooped top then £1.5 million will be looking like a bargain by Xmas.
GivetheclicheachanceCSC
livibhoy
Unfortunately there’s always a premium to be paid for goal scorers and even non goal scorers as we have found to our cost.
Yeah , he let me know the big man had called him – fair play to BBJ . That’s good he is getting out and about -he was certainly in good company yesterday !
Maria back here tomorrow -tough times for the all . HH
ger57
10:39 on 6 July, 2015
Much as I respect James McMillan’s courageous comments regarding bigotry in Scotland, his comparison of socialist groups and publications to racists and fascists is way off the mark. Simpletons like mickbhoy use the likes of McMillan to push an anti Celtic agenda. He was a Thatcherite cop ffs.
******
Aye, James MacMillan talking crap again. “Appalling political allegiances” – people whose opinions MacMillan disagrees with, obviously. I don’t think Celtic are a left-wing club or that our fans are a socialist bunch – many of them (us) are though, and are entitled to express those views. But that’s not speaking for the whole support, and never can be. But why self-censor in the face of the wholly corporate nature of the Champions League etc?
As for Ciftci, he reminds me of Mark McGhee but without the talent.
If we are looking for an out ball then we should bring back Samaras. The big man got us out more times than I can remember in Europe and made Izzy a far better full back.
Cifci is a non goalscoring liability, a big NO from me.
HH!
borgo67
Turkish Daryl Murphy for me. Doesn;t look like a Ronny type player. I just find the signing very curious. He doesn;t fit the criteria of a Ronny player. If He signs I will back him and I hope he goes on to be better than Henrik but at the minute I am not convinced. I still think the best striker in the SPFL out with Celtic is Rooney.
LB
Ellboy
Cifci scores more goals in Scotland than Sammy ever did.
Samaras is 30 now. I’d only sign him if he was very cheap.
ger57
Fair enough, but he’s entitled surely to his won views too? Anyway…..
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Celtic pubs in Kansas?
livibhoy
Turkish Daryl Murphy!!!
You’ve got me worried :-)
borgo67
For what it is worth I always thought Murphy didn;t get a proper chance at Paradise. I remember a must win game at Fir Park and we got a penalty last minute or certainly very late on and nobody wanted to take it. Murphy stepped up and put it away. Respected him for that. He didn’t have to put himself under that pressure but he did and it was notable that nobody else came forward and tried to wrestle the ball from his grasp.
What I have seen of Ciftci so far I am not very impressed but a good player in a better team can become a great player. IF he signs then I hope he kicks on and does well.
LB
The way I see Ciftci is as a squad player. We need a sqaud. We are short on strikers and even with him we still need another IMO.
I’m not a great judge of players so I’ll refrain from doing so. If he busts his what nots for the Hoops then he’ll do for me.
Ciftci…..Not for me.
However…if RD and JC reckon he can do it, fair enough.
But I doubt his quality.
What bothers me….is that we are getting to the point, where money spent on transfers is decreasing, year after year.
Really scrambling about in the bargain basement.
The quality declines, while ticket prices rise.
Boyata and Janko maybe….but Ciftci…smacks of desperation to me.
Dilute the quality of player, and we are unlikely to do much in Europe this season.
Ciftci is not good enough, in my opinion.
HH
James McMillan- in summary- stop being socialist, stop being a republican, go back to mass.
1.5 million for Cifti doesn’t sound like value anymore
channelislandcelt
Yup that’s for sure, but he has lotsa pals, and he knows we are there for him at any time, you and the channel island bhoys too.
timaloy29
Adam Rooney scores more goals than the two of them but was a failure in the English championship. My point is every team has to have someone who scores goals for them. Cifci is that player for Dundee United and he’s not exactly prolific. The only good thing I can see is he’s only 23, so has improvement in him but from what I’ve seen he needs to improve markedly both as a player and between his ears.
However having said all that and if as Paul Suggests we are bringing Ciftci in as a “sticky out ball” & not as the goal scorer we require? Then for me we should use our limited resources towards a guaranteed “sticky out ball” in Samaras. ( If as you say he’s affordable)
HH!
livibhoy
Yes I remember Murphy stepping up to take that penalty . He is a strange one , could be another that just didn’t feel comfortable here.
Just don’t see enough football other than Celtic these days to form a fair opinion on potential signings.
The Green Man
We won’t compete in Europe this year anyway. We are pretty pedestrian to be honest.
Nobody that can take your breath away.
No near box Sutton runs.
No shoulder charging Hartson bullets.
No Lubo pin point deliveries
No Henrik score from any angle.
et cetera
Think Ciftci is a decent buy. He will give us a physicality that we have not had since BBJ left. We should also get barrowloads of free-kicks + penalties.
Am I the only one who is more concerned about the defence rather than the attack?
We’ve just sold Matthews and what was his best game?
In Europe it’s about having a strong defence and working from there.
Mulgrew wants a contract for life… heaven help us if that happens, when he got injured last season we started playing better.
Left back has been a problem for years and that should be a priority.
Seriously….you cannot sustain CL football if the quality of player is decreasing.
I don’t advocate stupid spending, but we cant survive in the CL with SPL dross.
Are you telling me….that Ciftci is our limit?
If this is a sign of things to come….im very worried.
Yet again…the board want something for nothing.
Players….the cheaper, the better.
Now that principle might work in relation to any number of things, but in football, it doesn’t.
We are not Porto, we cannot sign Brazilians for buttons.
But surely, we must have more ambition than signing the likes of Ciftci.
HH
‘When Celtic faced FC Hapoel of Tel Aviv recently, the Scottish TUC organized a huge anti-Israeli demonstration at the Glasgow leg, and recruited many eager Celtic fans to wave Palestinian and Hamas flags at the visitors. The sight of my fellow Celtic supporters goading our Jewish guests with anti-Semitic howls and insults was deeply shaming.’
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Anyone who was at the game will know that there was no huge demonstration.
The ‘demonstration’ was disappointingly ( from my perspective) low key. The GB were of course posted missing that night
I’m not aware there was any goading of the away support, or anti anti Semitic ‘howls and insults’, I certainly didn’t see or hear anything remotely like that.
Was McMillan at the game? Did he witness these things himself?
How can cifti be described as a desperation buy. Transfer window only been open few days it would be desperation if end of August. The fact management want him in so early and willing to pay over odds (50% more) shows they must really fancy him to improve us. Personally I don’t rate him and don’t want that type of person at the club but 7 wks before window shuts we are hardly at desperation stages. It probably just shows that manager having more of a say this yrs so whether the transfer works or not the decision is down to manager which can only be a good thing.
themaestro72
I still think Ronny’s system suits a back 5 and Charlie can possibly be a very good sweeper.
I tend to agree on your assessment of the defence being prioirty but in reality our midfield and keeper are good. Our defence and attack have similar problems. Lack of quality and strength in depth. We need to strengthen both and I think we will.
People saying that Griffith’s will not scare European defences clearly do not remember Scott McDonald scoring goals in the CL. Griff will do OK.
LB
Adam Rooney is this years Stevie May, the other years Michael Higson and so it goes on….was always poor against us.
As for Cifci…not sure but my Dundee United pals love him tho felt he didn’t try in a few games late in the season…but they do rate him.
As for last nights blog…some of the posters should be ashamed of themselves. Corkcelt is 100% correct…
Kikinthenakas
scotlands shame
I think we are all for buying from our own league but I think the transfer fee Ciftci is now being quoted at has skewed opinion and now we are doubting he has the tools to live up to that price tag.
I agree we are buying early though which is fine but we play a CL qualifier next week. Scary stuff how early these come around.
LB
timaloy29
10:12 on
6 July, 2015
@starry plough
Leigh Griffiths is the best striker we’ve signed lately. I wouldn’t turn my nose up at a player with a proven SPFL record for the prices discussed.
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100% correct – Let’s say, we were just sitting here thinking (nic) at the moment and could sign GMS, Armstrong & Cifti for a total of around £3 million – it would be the steal of the decade.
Balde, Pukki, Bangura, Miku, Lassad and Murphy couldn’t do it in Scotland – Cifti CAN and HAS – he will score more at Celtic – OK his Euro credentials still need to be forged – does it really matter this season?. I don’t think we will negotiate three qualifying rounds.
We are THREE players short at the moment – Striker/Left Back & Creative Midfielder.
We are ‘shadow boxing’ at present – we will sign Cifti – £1.25m
Our options, due to a grossly inflated market, are very much limited – let’s face up to this fact.
We cannot afford to buy anyone who we cannot punt to England later.
Keep the money….Id rather see a young Celt played in the team, than Ciftci.
And yes, there is a very good reason why Scottish teams don’t do well in Europe.
So….to buy Scottish players at bargain prices, might make the board happy ,but in terms of football, its stupidity.
SPL dross wont improve Celtic, no matter how you spin it.
HH