CELTIC fans are clamouring for new recruits in this January transfer window as the clock ticks down towards the end of the month.
The Hoops have plundered this market in recent windows and come up trumps with the likes of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley in 2022.
Alistair Johnston, fresh from his impressive World Cup Finals showings for Canada in Qatar, was unveiled 12 months ago along with Japanese Player of the Year Tomoki Iwata and South Korean international striker Oh Hyeon-gyu.
However, CQN must point out the errors that can be made when the club moves in reckless speed without due diligence.
NOW YOU SEE ME…Marvin Compper in his solitary Celtic appearance.
Alas, the champions have introduced some mystifying purchases at this time of year and none can be more puzzling or perplexing than German central defender Marvin Compper, who cost £1million when he arrived from RB Leipzig at the turn of the year in 2018.
Brendan Rodgers had bought the 33-year-old centre-back to add experience to his defence.
Compper did not feature in a solitary league game and his only appearance came in an 83-minute outing in a 3-0 Scottish Cup win over Morton at Parkhead in March. And with that solitary display he was never seen again, moving to German third-tier side MSV Duisburg in July 2019.
What can we say about the merits of Ivorian frontman Vakoun Issouf Bayo, brought in by Rodgers apparently on the say-so of the player’s fellow-countryman Kolo Toure who was a first-team coach at the time?
Luckily for Rodgers and Toure, they didn’t hang around to see the ponderous attack-leader go through his misfiring routine as they fled to Leicester City in February 2019, a month after the player nicknamed ‘The Crow’ had landed in Glasgow in a £2million deal from Slovakian outfit Duajska Streda.
Bayo, now at Watford, made nine appearances, failed to score a single league goal and his two strikes came in Cup-ties against lower league opposition, Partick Thistle and Clyde.
JOY BHOY…Oli Burke races away after scoring against St Mirren.
Patryk Klimala arrived a year later with the Hoops investing £3.5million in the 21-year-old Polish marksman from Jagiellonla Bialystok.
He didn’t impress in admittedly stressful times at the club and, at least, the club got their money back when ex-boss Ronny Deila signed him for MLS outfit New York Red Bulls.
There’s been a conveyor belt of catastrophic January purchases and the loan arrivals of the likes of Jonjoe Kenny, a right-back from Everton, Oli Burke, a striker from West Brom, and Jeremy Toljan, a defender from Borussia Dortmund, were never likely to be converted into permanent signings.
There were high hopes for Ivory Coast midfield enforcer Ismaila Soro when he arrived in a £2million switch from Israeli club Bnei Yehuda on January 27 2020. He had earned the nickname ‘Rhino’ at his former club and certainly charged around and picked up a blizzard of bookings, but, apart from that, did little of note.
The highlight was a thumping 30-yard drive against Dundee United for his only goal for the team. He made only a handful of appearances for Ange Postecoglou before being shown the door.
RED ALERT…Edson Braafheid clears from Aberdeen striker Darren Mackie.
He had a loan spell at Portuguese club Arouca before he sealed a return to Israel with a permanent switch to Bietar Jerusalem in August 2023.
Wingers Marian Shved and Lewis Morgan came and went without anyone taking undue notice.
However, intrigue surrounded the loan arrival of Edson Braafheid from Bayern Munich in January 2010, a desperate throw of the dice from under-pressure gaffer Tony Mowbray to turn things around in his debut campaign as Hoops boss.
The 27-year-old Dutch international left-back touched down in Glasgow with a huge reputation, but made only 12 appearances for the Parkhead club.
One of his rare sightings came in the 4-0 flop against St Mirren in Paisley in March 2010, the evening before Mowbray was sacked.
Neil Lennon took over as caretaker gaffer for the remainder of the season and Braafheid was on his way back to the Bundesliga outfit a couple of months later.
Remarkably, he featured for Holland in the World Cup Final just six weeks after getting the heave-ho from Lenny. He came on as an extra-time substitute, but there is no happy ending to this particular tale.
A minute after his arrival, Andres Iniesta hit the winning goal for Spain.
And that takes us to the one-and-only Willo Flood. Remember him?
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…Willo Flood on the day he joined Celtic in January 2009.
Gordon Strachan made only one signing in the January window of 2009 and it was the Dublin-born midfielder who had that distinction.
The former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international caught the attention of the Hoops chief during his two seasons on loan at Dundee United from Cardiff City.
Strachan paid something in the region of £150,000 for Flood who made only five appearances without scoring a goal before being allowed to leave on a free a year later.
The energetic middle-of-the-park performer was snapped up by Middlesbrough who were managed at the time by…Gordon Strachan!
Funny old game, football.
But one thing is certain. Act in haste, repent at leisure.
