Eboue breaks signing guidelines

406

You will remember we track the number of appearances young players make before they sign for Celtic. We have a sweet spot of around 60 games (van Dijk: 62, Wanyama: 51, Dembele: 56).

It typically takes this number of games before a prospect will raise his profile enough to come to our attention, and for subsequent scouting to take place. Consider the process. Before recommending a player to Celtic, one of their in-country scouts will have to see him perform on a number of occasions and tested at a level comparable to the challenges faced by Celtic.

Alternatively, agents will need to produce DVDs to entice some interest. It takes time to differentiate a Kieran Tierney from a one season wonder.

Leave it later, say until around 100 games have been played, and a van Dijk is likely to flicker on radars in England or Germany. Celtic’s chances of acquiring the player would be considerably diminished, as even one season wonders can fetch £8m when an EPL club shows interest. Out of Celtic’s reach, but often still rubbish.

Kouassi Eboue breaks our guidelines. The teenager has made a starting line-up on 16 occasions in senior football plus three as a sub. He was red carded once and subbed off four times, so he’s only played 11 full games. 11 games is not a lot to base a £3m purchase on.

On the plus side, the quality of many of those games is reassuring. Five of his 90 minutes came in the Europa League against Salzburg, Nice and Schalke, so Celtic will have had the chance to see him perform against decent European sides – as an 18-year-old.

There are things I don’t know about this deal, where the recommendation came from being the most significant. I don’t recognise his agent, so not surprisingly it appears we’ve reached beyond the pools we were fishing in under Ronny and Neil. Kouassi also appears to be the agent’s most/only valuable asset. As such, I doubt the initiation came from the agent, or if the player’s profile was raised with anyone outside Russia before Celtic had the preliminaries signed.

Is a season in the Europa League the new sweet spot for a Celtic prospect? Stay tuned.

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

406 Comments

  1. Delaneys Dunky on

    WWW

     

     

    A gang of welly wearers in the north west of Glasgow called themselves The Temple Scurvy

  2. What is the Stars on

    Jaysus

     

     

    its 2017

     

     

    This is science fiction ….WTF happened to the 1970s …..I had me whole life in front of me

  3. Thom

     

    Muchas Gracious.

     

    Pretty sure they are on the right track this time, taken a while but better late than never as they say.

     

    Felix is fine, but what about the poor wee puppies ???

     

    Only one still needing a home, one going to Dublin, one close by, someone driving up from Malaga the morra, one to Sweden and one near Murcia, the other one will be gone by the weekend.

     

    HH

  4. WHAT IS THE STARS on 5TH JANUARY 2017 10:07 PM

     

    Balaclavas ??

     

     

    _________________________________________________________

     

     

    They haven’t gone away you know! ;-)

  5. GlassTwoThirdsFull on

    The Clumpany

     

    Excellent stuff again. I hope you aren’t suggesting that the Le Guen articles were co-ordinated? Perish the thought!

  6. What is the Stars on

    Delaneys

     

     

    Sounds like a song

     

     

    Theres a balaclava lying in old delaneys drawer

     

    a blaclava so simple in its style

  7. Margaret McGill on

    An article on the Hammers’ official website stated that “a bid of £20m – a figure close to the club’s all-time transfer record – was submitted for a player from Scotland”.

     

     

    could be Tavernier

     

     

    could be

  8. Die Hard with a Vengeance coming up on BBC1.

     

     

    ‘Contains strong Language’

     

     

    Rings a bell somewhere.

  9. Celticrollercoaster supporting @WalkWithShay on

    Last shout out for Fat Bhoys Slim 2017

     

     

    We are 15 strong and god knows how wide :-)

     

    ==================================================

     

    Evening fholks, each year we run a Fat Bhoys Slim for a period of 20 weeks to try and shed that excess weight gained over the festive period and beyond. This year the Fat Bhoys re-assemble bigger and better (fatter) and look to start this weekend (Sat 7th Jan).

     

     

    Does it work? Probably for most, no, but it gives a chance for additional banter, fatbhoy grief and original fatbhoy sin and guilt to at least make you try and make an effort for the first 6-7 weeks.

     

     

    If you want to join us this year, send me an email at celticrollercoaster@yahoo.co.uk

     

     

    The cost is free, but I might try and con(vince) you to also join Goals for Shay :-)

     

     

    HH

     

     

    CRC

  10. CRC – well planned that man! If I’ve counted correct with my 7 fingers at a time the final weigh in will be on 20 May, just before our week long celebrations begin. Going for a 5000+ calorie day tomorow before it all kicks off!

  11. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    THEEXILEDTIM

     

     

    It is,innit?

     

     

    I’m sure we’ve signed players on the basis of a dodgy video compilation,so why not a dodgy Wikipedia page?

     

     

    Could be worse,Souness and George Weah’s phone recommendation for his “cousin” springs to mind!

  12. JOBO BALDIE on 5TH JANUARY 2017 10:46 PM

     

    LIve fotball on TV tomorrow night, Hibs v Dundee Utd in Gaelic.

     

     

     

    bbcalbaCSC

     

     

    —–

     

    In excess of 16k tickets sold. Armageddon.