Front-loading transfers with loans

Mistakes in the transfer market are more costly to a club than any mistake made on a football field.  It’s too easy to spend millions on a transfer fee and commit to the kind of contract you or I will never see in our lives.  After contracts are signed you need to hope the player settles into the squad, and the city, sometimes hope he learns the language, and assume he can cope with the weather.

So how do you offset this?  In recent seasons Celtic have tried, when possible, to agree a deal in principle, but front-load the transfer with a short-term loan deal.  This gives the club six months or a year to ensure all the boxes are ticked before they commit the kind of resources which would have an impact on multiple seasons.

Miku is a case in point.  Glasgow is a long way from his native Venezuela, and as different from Madrid or Valencia, where he spent most of his adult life, as you will find in Western Europe.  He is a almost certainly a better player than we have seen since he arrived at the end of the summer transfer window, but it would be foolish to suggest he has settled well at the club.

If Miku doesn’t cut it, he will return to Spain in the summer, or sooner, and Celtic will have conserved millions.

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