Neil Lennon suggested Gary Hooper, unquestionably his favourite son, was Celtic’s best striker since Henrik Larsson. It’s an interesting question.
The list is long: Chris Sutton, John Hartson, Henri Camara, Craig Bellamy, Dion Dublin, Scott McDonald, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Chris Killen, Maciej Zurawski, Kenny Miller, Derek Riordan, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras, Robbie Keane, Diomansy Kamara, Olivier Kapo, Anthony Stokes, Pawel Brozek, Moh Bangura, Daryl Murphy, Miku and Lassad.
Apologies if I’ve overlooked someone. That’s 22 strikers in nine years (it’s a bit soon to consider Amido Balde), some of whom were loans, but the list doesn’t include the many Celtic youth players who got their shot at first team football, or those, like Tony Watt, who were signed for low fees from lower league Scottish clubs.
Chris Sutton and John Hartson were already at the club when Henrik left, but it quickly became evident they were past their best. Robbie Keane and Craig Bellamy were quality but only played a dozen or so games, so can’t really be considered as competition to Hooper.
Maciej Zurawski arrived a year after Larsson left and had a phenomenal first season at the club. He made his debut after the 5-0 reversal to Artmedia but inspired Celtic to a 4-0 win six days later. Maciej was on fire when he joined and only failed to score in five league games before the league win in April but he never found anything close to that consistency again. Record: 22 goals in 55 games.
Scott McDonald’s YouTube clip of goals in the Champions League and against Rangers will have featured heavily in the portfolio as his agent looked for a new club this year. His goals got us into the Champions League, beat European champions, Milan, and regularly put our (then) nearest rivals to the sword. Record: 51 goals in 88 games.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink arrived in summer 2006 and immediately outshone Zurawski. His debut as a substitute against Hibs transformed Celtic and won the game. His signing was pivotal in Celtic winning the title in 2007. Record: 34 goals in 78 games.
Georgios Samaras arrived 18 months after Vennegoor of Hesselink and alongside Barry Robson pushed Celtic over the line for three in a row. 2008 was a fabulous year for Georgios but although he’s still a forward, he’s not really been a striker since. Record: 41 goals in 138 games.
With 63 goals, 95 games, Gary Hooper’s scoring record is better than anyone else’s, but the challenge to be best since Larsson was simple, just outperform Scott McDonald. With all those strikers as competition, that’s not as high as the bar could be.
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Allgreen 11:13 on 29 July, 2013
And your current employer wouldn’t receive several million quid if you left.
Oh, meant to mention earlier. Was half listening to Radio5 about 4.30 this morning. There was a Joe Lavery (?) on of the Belfast Telegraph. He was spinning the old “the orange order are a religious organisation” line to anyone who would listen and were horrified about the violence 2 weeks ago. Seemingly, they are hoping that after 2 weeks of good behaviour, they have earned the right to walk through the Ardoyne.
I don’t think Celtic have a problem spending ~£6m on a player if they think they can recoup that 2-3 years later.
We got ~£5m for Hooper we just spend that plus a little bit more.Not a problem.
Our problem is convincing £6m players to join us rather than some other team in a bigger league.
WGS
I just checked Boerrigter’s stats. You’re right, they are not bad. He’s not a goal scorer, but should provide plenty of assists.
I really hope our new signing turns out to be the real thing. If we believe the msn, it looks like he is a direct replacement for paddy McCourt. I am sure lenny won’t go down that road
I’m glad to see that others are of the same opinion as myself: Kelvin Wilson, especially in the CL, was excellent for us last season.
Been speaking to some people who ‘think’ that Derk Boettiger could be the next Henrik Larsson.
Getting a bit ahead of themselves, I think.
Bhoy looks talented – from the little I have seen of him: courtesy of youtube.
However, when Henrik joined us in 1997 he already had something like 30 caps for Sweden and had played at USA1994 (where they finished 3rd), and had already scored about 120 competitive goals.
We all know what he achieved with us, and indeed after he left.
Wish Derk well – if he does join us – and should he go on to achieve even half of what Henrik did, I am sure we would ALL(!?) be very happy.
HH!!
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD
Aye,two weeks of “good behaviour” which followed a week of riots,btw,as against their previous two centuries of rampaging is defo enough in my opinion.
Let them match where they like,the Nationalists can pull up their floorboards to barricade their windows.
WGS
This is the Israeli guy that someone on KDS has been saying for a couple of weeks that we are interested in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avihai_Yadin
Finbogasson would be a major coup for us but can’t help think that we are being used as a stalking horse for some EPL/Bundesliga clubs.
I don’t want to see any more first team players leaving, as there would be too much disruption before four hugely important CL games.
Good to hear about some new players coming in, but I’ll be gobsmacked if we sign any player for 7M euros! We’ve taken in good money for Vic and Hoops, but the club will have to keep the season card prices down for the next few seasons, not just this one! They are kidding themselves if they think this year is a one-off, as stated in the renewal forms!
T4
If we sign Finnbogason I’m going to write to the club demanding that WGS gets a scouting fee.
Allgreen
11:13 on
29 July, 2013
Must be great to live in a world where if you get homesick you can get a move. If told my boss I was homesick I would be told to forget it or leave with no other employer offering me a joining fee.
The world of the professional footballer and the real world are miles apart.
Kayal,
Finnboiggasson uses us a for a few years to EPL in his heroes number. We outlay 5 million for him we will get over double for him in a few years
Think this will happen !!
AsonOfDan 08:32
Jangle Jackson tells you he has been on holiday 2 weeks then goes on to pronounce Balde a dud.
He also wants Celtic to follow the rangers route and blow all our cash on players.
Holiday obviously didn’t do him much good then.
Kayal,
If stokes goes as well i’d go to Belgium and get Jelle Vossen why we are on a roll.
I wouldn’t mind us going for Philipp Hosiner of Austrian Wein if the Finnbogasan attempt fails.
Our strikers at the monet are starved from service from wide areas.
Natural winger that will get balls into box. With the lad from Ajax you might see Balde benefit big time.
Big man aint getting the service. playing with his back to goal all the time.
bobby murdoch’s curled-up winklepickers-G64 has very eclectic taste in music…..specially after 2 bottles of red.Not sure where to gather in September,night be an idea to keep venue by email as the FOCUS Kettling Division ljrk on sites like this :)
WGS
11:30 on 29 July, 2013
Stokes will stay, hopefully. If he does go then Kevin Doyle is a certainty to sign IMO.
Vossen would be a good back up option if we don’t sign Finbogasson, as would ASonOfDan’s suggestion of Hosiner
Hope the Ledley rumours are not true. I’m surprised his contract has been allowed to get down to the last year. However, I’m sure Neil said when we sold Wanyama that the money would be used to keep players here, so let’s see….
Mr Finn…….
Bryan McManus
Living proof that Thomas Jefferson was wrong when he said “all men are created equal” although considering Thomas Jefferson also said an African nation would win the World Cup before the year 2000 why should anyone listen to him? Bryan has a passion for Celtic, a love of football and a tendency to make completely absurd statements in such a way that you might actually agree with them. Follow on twitter @bryanmcmanus
Transfer Target | Player Profile | Alfreð Finnbogason | Celtic | Werder Bremen | Hamburg
Name : Alfreð Finnbogason
Current Club : SC Heerenveen
Nationality : Icelandic
Position : Striker
Age : 24
Estimated Value : £4.5 million
Interested Clubs : Celtic, Aston Villa, Werder Bremen, Hamburg
Following the departure of Gary Hooper to Norwich attention has turned to who Neil Lennon would sign as his replacement the latest name to be linked with the club is Icelandic striker Alfreð Finnbogason.
Having signed for SC Heerenveen in August 2012 the player has been in sensational form scoring 24 goals in the Eredivisie and catching the eye of clubs across Europe. He was heavily linked with a move to Villa Park in the January transfer window however his club were reluctant to consider allowing him to leave during the season but now may be tempted if their valuation of the player is met. The player is contracted until 2015 so the Dutch club are in no rush to sell the player.
SC Heerenveen finished 8th in the table last season and have already began strengthening their squad for the upcoming campaign their acquisitions have included 2 attackers which indicates that they may expect to cash in on Finnbogason. Marco van Basten saw the player score his first goals for the club against his Coach’s old team Ajax in a 2 all draw in September 2012 he then went on to bag another 22 league goals, 6 in cup games and 2 at international level.
The player had a brief taste of Champions League action when he was on loan at Helsingborgs and scored against Śląsk Wrocław in Europe’s premier competition. He also played against Motherwell in the Europa League for Breidablik but failed to find the net against The Steelmen. He made his debut for Iceland in 2010 and has scored 4 goals at international level.
Finnbogason’s goalscoring form was nothing short of sensational last season and under the stewardship of van Basten the player has flourished. He is heavily tipped to make a move to the Bundesliga however as a youngster he spent two years in Edinburgh and a certain Henrik Larsson was a favourite of the young Icelander who admitted
“Larsson was the player I looked up to when I was in Scotland, the one I wanted to emulate“
Finnbogason is a typical penalty box striker and would be a perfect replacement for Hooper. The player may cost a bit more than Celtic are looking to spend however if the club want to make a mark in the Champions League they should push the boat out to entice the player to the club. The striker would certainly be tempted and has stated
“At the moment, I think there is only one club I would play for in Scotland and that’s Celtic. It’s a huge club and they play in the Champions League. It would be appealing to play for such a big European club. The Larsson history would make it even better but I want to make the best decision possible for my career“
Celtic fans are desperate for a new goal scoring hero and if the club move quickly they may be able to secure the services of the in demand hitman. Finnbogason would be a sensation in the hoops and in keeping with clubs transfer policy could be sold on for a healthy profit in years to come.
79caps
11:16 on 29 July, 2013MickTTI do think he would be a big loss. Just as Wanyama is. I thought last season’s CL showed that we have a young team with huge potential. I hoped that we would be able to keep that team together and bring in a couple more players to strenghen it.Wilson together with Ambrose or Mulgrew was an effective pairing. When you have good central defenders, you should try to keep them IMO.HH
Yep fair point..
HH
sc Heerenveen nieuws @NewsHeerenveen 3m
Dear Celtic-support, we let you know when the transfer is completed! #celtic #heerenveen
For what it’s worth [ and that could be zilch ]
Finnbogason [ slightly old “news “]
Italian rumor mongers were quoting Marco Van Basten bigging up Finnbogason and advising AC Milan to sign him..
Rival rumor mongers were claiming that AC Milan weren’t convinced but maybe Paolo Di Canio / Sunderland were. .
Hot and grey in Nice —–thunder in the air .
Burnley78
Yer having a laugh .
WGS has mentioned anybody with a pulse over the last few years.
We may not even be interested in the player anyway.
I don’t think Wilson is all that but he’s the best we have so unless we have 2 or 3 central defenders lined up best we retain his services. It does present a problem as we are no longer looking for a partner but a partnership that works in Central Defence.
Ambrose is the ready made replacement for Vic so be good to get him there.
Who does that leave? Mulgrew and Lustig?
Also do we need another winger? Forest and Commons, Izzy and Matthews give us wing options. We need a striker with pace or get Sami trained to put ball in net ( he is easily our best player now and could be anything he/ we want him to be IMO)
I’m not sweating it . The squad is flexible, the template/ ethos/ mentality is set- some poor results last season but mostly when it mattered we delivered.
I just feel dismayed that we don’t focus recruitment on the obvious positions of weakness. Central defence is and has been SCREAMING for attention. We also need a goal machine.
I’m still banging the drum on Niall McGinn .. And would accept Griffiths. ( if put under 24/7 security).
I expect the current squad to win next round but the one after needs bolstering.
Tiny – it was TBB who said that, not our brewing friend !
T4
Ole Finnbogason would be good for shirt sales with a name like that…
janvennegorofhesselinkCSC
TTTT
Ah yer alive. Was just thinking last night you seemed to have vanished. Been away?
Roy
Roy
I made that point last night, 50p a letter – goldmine, and the main reason we are buying him, AND, the main reason why we sold KI :-)
Twisty – alright mate? Been away for a week in Spain, with wife/maw/sis….good to be home!
Luck has deserted me since Hamilton. :-(
You geared up for Glorious Goodwood?
T4
CultsBhoy loves being 1st forever & ever
don’t be ‘dismayed’…it appears the club are looking to strengthen the areas you are worrying about.
On our new winger (if he signs) we seem to be adding pace, skill and goals-never a bad thing. Too many times last year we were very pedestrian and predictable.
Alfreo Finnbogason is worth – exactly – 26. In scrabble.
twists n turns
Ki had to go-no more Celts with short names :)
plcCSC
Peter McVitie @PeterMcVitie 25m
Okay Celtic fans. I can tell you what I have just been told about Finnbogason.
Peter McVitie @PeterMcVitie 23m
My source tells me that there has been no contact thus far with the player’s representatives. That is something I can confirm.
Peter McVitie @PeterMcVitie 23m
Reports of a €7m bid I can neither confirm nor deny, however, interestingly, there is no one at the club today to even accept/reject a bid.
Peter McVitie @PeterMcVitie 22m
That’s all I can say just now, I won’t tweet anything about it until I know more.
TTTT
Oh will be giving it a go mate.
Hope you had a nice holiday.
Ive had 1 x 1 week holiday this year. Ridiculous for a man of my standing. Gonna try and grab a week or so soon.
So are burnt cakes on the tea menu at CP?
First King Kenny, then King Henry and now King Alfred?
Did Finnboggason really play for Hutchison Vale? How did he slip through the scouting network?
This could be getting interesting.