Hayes, Koki Mizuno and the right-mid gap

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You and I have been doing this long enough to remember this place in meltdown at the prospect of Celtic signing a player from another SPL club. Domestically sourced talent was regarded as unimaginative, cheap, even. Contrast this with the utter joy when we signed Koki Mizuno, who was full-on exotic, but built for finer things then competitive football.

At 29, Aberdeen’s Irish international midfielder, Jonny Hayes is certainly unimaginative, and may be comparatively cheap, but he’s also a low-risk option for Celtic, who will know what they could get (and what they will not get) from the player.

With Patrick Roberts due to report to Manchester City on his return from holiday, Celtic are short of options for right-mid, with the first Champions League qualifier only five weeks away. The manager will view this gap in his squad as an unnecessary risk to next season’s objectives.

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  1. Delaneys Dunky on

    I have high hopes for Michael Johnston in the next couple of seasons, to be pushing for a first team place on the wing.

  2. TIMJIM:

     

     

    No, I haven’t actually. The issue has always been IF.

     

     

    IF he’s the signing to replace Roberts then there is VALID cause for concern.

     

     

    IF he’s not, then let’s see the colour of your money Dermot, and get us someone who ticks the boxes.

  3. Delaneys Dunky on

    TGM

     

     

    Wee Karamoko might take Jonny Hayes place in the Celtic team in two years time? :)

  4. James

     

    Still on your high horse re Jonny :-)

     

    You and many others are forgetting that we had Paddy on a loan, a LOAN, for those who are the hard of understanding this was a bonus for us, we got the use of a top quality player for 18 months.

     

    To expect to replace him with like is way over the top IMO, we don’t have money to burn.

     

    For once I am happy with the strategy of the suits on this, even tho I don’t know what it is !!!

     

    I’m sure if we look hard enough we will get someone as good as Paddy on loan again.

     

    HH

  5. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    TET

     

     

    Good post….we were lucky to Paddy on loan.

     

    But….I want Iniesta:)

     

     

    HH

  6. thetimreaper on

    I’m wee Paddy’s biggest fan but i think we are going down a road where we are imagining him as being better than he was. We have seen brilliance from him, particularly in the latter part of the season when the pitches and conditions were better. However he was on the bench at times and didn’t perform well in a lot of matches. He remains a defensive liability that could be exposed in Europe. If we do sign Paddy there is no guarantee Brendan will trust him in big European matches. Paddy has been great and could become a top player, but he is a long way from that as yet.

  7. THE EXILED TIM:

     

     

    I don’t expect him to be replaced with someone of the same quality.

     

     

    I expect better than an SPL player who hasn’t been good enough in the eight years before now.

     

     

    PHILBHOY:

     

     

    This “no faith in the manager” argument is pish. It’s a red herring. No-one is questioning the manager.

     

     

    But you know what? Brendan Rodgers doesn’t walk on water, and he WILL make mistakes.

     

     

    And yeah, I’ll be calling them exactly that when he does.

  8. James

     

    Only if you are assuming he is a direct replacement, even then we had him on loan cos we couldn’t afford him, we should be content that we had the pleasure of him for the 18 months, when IIRC he wasn’t the flavour of the month for a fair chunk of that time, he had his moments grant you, but the money it would take to sign him, not for me, I doubt Brendan would spend what it takes on a luxury player like Paddy.

     

    HH

  9. 50 shades of green on

    Its no about the 11 on the park anymore its about the depth of your squad.

     

     

    If Paddy ain’t coming back, wee Jamsie and Scotty will be most peoples prefared choice, anyone think they will both be injury free next season?

     

     

    Yea we have a few from the development squad who could help out now and then but 4 or 5 games in a row including midweek might be a bit much so with all that in mind, we might just be needing a versatile winger .

     

     

    Step forward Dublin born Johnny bhoy Hayes.

     

     

    All in my humble opinion of course.

     

     

    H.H

  10. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    TET

     

     

    That seems fair:)

     

    But why cant we get Messi:)

     

     

    HH

  11. THE EXILED TIM:

     

     

    There it is, though, mate. I’m not assuming anything of the sort, although Paul’s leader makes it sound very much like we should.

     

     

    And I don’t believe Roberts is/was a “luxury player”. At a better level than the SPL you need someone a bit special to crack that door open. This is why Moussa has attracted the big money interest of massive clubs; it’s not for scoring a hat-trick against Murder Inc.

     

     

    He proved he has what it takes to play at that level. Hayes never has. At 29, if it was gonna happen it would have already. What have Celtic managers been doing for the last eight years? Waiting for him to show it? We could have had this guy ages ago if he was good enough.

     

     

    As a squad player, yes, adequate. But no more than that. Let me put it this way, nobody’s been breaking down Aberdeen’s door to sign him. As someone said earlier, if we pay £1 million for the guy it’ll be a £1 million more than anyone ever paid for him before.

     

     

    I say it again – IF he is the direct replacement for Patrick Roberts the words “short changed” don’t begin to cut how bad I’ll feel. This is an SPL player we’re talking about here, at his peak, as good as he’ll get. Replacing a kid who could play anywhere. Low ball, cheap option, not good enough at all.

     

     

    IF.

  12. James

     

    Fair enough, you see it one way, I see it another.

     

    I see it more as a jigsaw puzzle, the first thing you have to do to progress is not lose games, defend and don’t concede goals, Hayes is better than any winger we presently have at defending, the next thing is to score goals, he has that in his locker as well.

     

    With all due respect James, I trust Brendan’s judgement all day long over you or anyone else who is bitching about signing Jonny Hayes as a replacement for Paddy or not, all day long.

     

    Brendan obviously sees JH as part of the puzzle else he wouldn’t be signing him, if indeed he does sign him.

     

    HH

  13. The whole signing business comes down to whether or not the Board seriously wants to progress or is quite happy with the way things are.

  14. THE EXILED TIM:

     

     

    If it turns out that Hayes IS the replacement for Roberts, would you be happy?

     

     

    Forget “trust Brendan” for a moment; we’re not children playing Daddy Knows Best. We can make a decision on that on our own merits.

     

     

    And for the record, I DO trust the manager. As I said earlier, if this is a symptom of a a sub-par transfer budget then it probably is the best we’re going to get. But that would be alarming, wouldn’t it?

     

     

    Again, not ASSUMING that it is … but the question is legit, and whatever anyone thinks of the bloggers it IS our job to ask it.

  15. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    Quonno

     

     

    No…we are debating it before it happens:)

     

    Just in case:)

     

     

    HH

  16. Johnny Hayes scored twice against the Invincibles last season.

     

     

    Kenny Miller also scored twice against the Invincibles last season.

     

     

    For the Hayes detractors, there’s still time for the alternative, if you wish hard enough…

  17. James

     

    Gee it a rest. We all get what your saying. We don’t all agree but everybody is entitled to their opinion.

  18. James

     

    I would be happy enough, as I think there are other areas we are more in need of strengthening if we want to progress in europe.

     

    HH

  19. I like Jonny Hayes. I think he has been the best player in Scotland the last few years not playing in green and white hoops. That said it would be a little underwhelming. It is surprising in that it would be significant money on a soon to be 30 year old. Not usually our M.O. I think he could offer more goals and assists than Forrest, but I’m not sure he is a significant upgrade. It’s also surprising that it comes at the beginning of the transfer window.

     

     

    It could be they believe Roberts is attainable and this is insurance, but we’re not supposed to be signing squad players. If we had signed Fischer then people would probably be ecstatic, but I think that type of signing would rule Roberts out entirely. I guess you have to wait and see how the window plays out. But Rodgers has spoken about the great relationship he has with Lawwell and Desmond so you have to trust his judgement. He has total control, so maybe he sees Hayes fitting in to how he wants to play. Our left and right wingers have completely different roles. Sinclair plays as an inside left bordering on a second striker, whereas Forrest or Roberts were hugging the touchline. I suppose when you get your hopes up for 2 or 3 wow signings then this reaction is understandable.

  20. SANDMAN:

     

     

    But you see, that’s the point, and you’ve made it well.

     

     

    If that’s the standard we’re judging this guy on it looks even more absurd.

     

     

    But what other standard do we have?

  21. REGGIE:

     

     

    You’re bang on mate. If we’d signed Fischer I would be ecstatic anyway :)

     

     

    No question about that at all. If we do I’ll be VERY ecstatic.

  22. What a week…

     

     

    We were all full on ecstatic,

     

    Paul we once wanted full on exotic,

     

    but I’m still a bit of a sceptic.

     

    We just dont want to be too drastic

     

    we just want the purse strings to be a bit more elastic.

     

    I may sound like lunatic.

     

    Like all you, I’m a bit of a fanatic

     

    when comes to this grand Ol team called Celtic.

     

     

     

    Ha ha, hows that for poetic ;-)

  23. Right lhads, loving and leaving you all.

     

     

    Yes, even you, TinyTim, you miserable sod :)

     

     

    Got one more article to write.

     

     

    Laterz.

  24. Marrakesh Express on

    Is Johnny Hayes related to Billy? Might be a bit dodgy getting him nto Turkey if we get Besiktas.

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