I wrote in May that Jota (23) was more important to retain than Cameron Carter-Vickers on a permanent contract. At that point, the profile of both players was high after a successful term in Glasgow, we would not have been the only potential destination. It is a huge credit to chief exec Michael Nicolson and the club that they have delivered both.
Cameron was our best defender, a potential Celtic captain, but still, I wanted Jota more. Opponents fear him. He can take a ball when marked tightly and the defender will not lunge in to attempt a steal, knowing Jota has the ability to move ball and body before they have formulated a thought.
If an opposition team leave him one-on-one, they better not lose possession. He is Celtic’s most effective out-ball; left with only one defender to beat, he can turn defence into an opportunity to score faster than Usain Bolt could track back.
When Aiden McGeady signed for Hibs this week, my thoughts went back to so many great memories. Prominent among them, was watching him as an 18-year-old, bring his instant control to a 2004 Celtic-Milan Champions League game. No one else in the Celtic team had that ball control.
Jota has the same effortless control.
So what about the Magic Window, where Celtic have seen enough of the player to make their move, before wealthier clubs get involved?
Incredibly, Jota had only played an entire 90 minutes of a game only twice before joining Celtic, both cup games for Benfica against lower league opposition. The season before arriving in Glasgow was mostly spent on the bench, watching his Real Valladolid side fail to ward off relegation. He made 8 starts there and was hooked each time, adding 10 appearances from the bench.
Across his career, before joining Celtic on loan last year, he made 9 starts and 29 sub appearances in senior football. Magic window? More a magic letterbox. He had hardly put studs on grass.
Valladolid was clearly a wrong move. As we have discussed previously about Patrick Roberts, he is a creative talent and needs to be with a team that spends lots of time attacking, sides fighting relegation would be unable to get the ball to him enough to see the benefit of giving him a shirt. It was the classic square peg/round hole problem – one we should be on the lookout for again.
To know the value of the player, Celtic would have to uncover knowledge only visible at Portuguese and Spanish reserve level games. The resources required to cover this much ground is unfathomable through traditional means. You are looking at the result of very effective analytics.
676 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- »
Does the tunnel that runs all the way to the Vatican not under that ground ? Or was that a fairy tale ?
ForwaRD
aLWAYS
Bognorbhoy, no that goes to the City Chambers. Vatican tunnel is under the Turnstiles Bar.
B78 x 2
Fridge Magnate vs Livi — care to share the detail?
I can remember the BS shenanigans with business finance that was called in.
To the advantage of the bank and not the borrower.
QP situation — the Fridge Magnate did not get to where he is today by not understanding personalities and making them work to his advantage.
Family folklore — “Donal” got him his local start / introduction back in the day.
Vatican Rotary Club involved — meetings opened a few doors and he ran through them.
Name came up in family chats in the late 80’s before he went nationwide.
Always followed his business on that basis.
To me he is on manoeuvres with QP.
DD must have set the price to high.
Growth agenda — ground up / known name vs faded glory / boot up the erse?
AP might have stolen some of his thunder — PL was just too easy.
Shrewd bloke is the Fridge Magnate — he really knows about growth.
Ahead of the game with his flats play – prototypes in big sheds is very thorough for builders.
The MK1 was very poor but they have learned a lot and moved on.
We could dae with a Prosinekci wae All the Sally Gunners.
Ye dinnae huv to move if you are Awesome Possum.
We Never Stop.CSC
Steam train challenges — 90’s style.
EPL — SP @ NF vs JD @ WHU.
The ball was forgotten about as they both went in long jump / kung fu style — all 4 feet were off the ground / 24 studs on show.
Took them 5 minutes to untangle the legs.
Ref looked the other way and played on.
Not sure Everybody was…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QspjKVTMlL8
Outrageous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxHbGA0sz-U
dearie me, if in doubt just make stuff up.
The stories and headlines sneering at Barkas’ Utrecht debut circulating on a variety of social media platforms are cheap shots at an easy target.
While Utrecht did lose four, the score when Barkas left the field was actually 1-1, so the sub was worse.
4;30 onwards….. whit was he doing?
Celtic are gonnae Rock this Season, IMO.
watching a bit of wimbeldon, and i know some here love the game, but the parade of previous champions and the interviews of the greats were really cringe worthy,
also bbc and english bias by not inviting boris becker.
Boris is in the jail….
Saint Stivs
He’s in jail – but you know that
That’s what happens when you cheat the revenue – oh wait a minute 😠
Barkas is still a Celtic player
quick scan of companies house.
Willie Haughey has zero ownership of Queens Park Football club Limited.
They changed their operating model to move from being an amatuer club to a professional club in 2019.
Company structure has not changed.
He gifted £2.5m to QPFC to allow SFA to purchase Hampden Park from them,
In the past he also donated funda to the amatuer club to keep them going at lesser hampden.
No share capital what so ever.
Shortbeard guy saying Bernabai is a hothead, early masonic signal to the referees.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 3RD JULY 2022 12:55 PM
.
Tom , Tom I understand loads of time left in the transfer window , I was just stating my opinion of what I feel we still need ,as it stands we still have the defence we had which shipped goals aplenty in Europe , yes good enough for spl nowhere near good enough for Europe . And think I read somewhere that ange wanted players in situ before we went on the training camp . You mr grumpy today pal .
Jimmy Quinn (1878-1945). Glasgow Celtic 1900-1915, 188 goals. 6 championships and 5 Scottish Cups. Hattrick against the hun when we were 2-0 down in the Cup final. Wouldn’t fancy squaring up to this fella. The Mighty Quinn.
JIMTIM@3:25pm
I agree Europe is the big test we have to start closing players down two good ch’s wont be any good if the don’t get help.we should not be getting beat from teams like Bodo.They spend a fraction of what we do but players seem to be more skilled and better coached.
Just my opinion.
Dnt ngge wi th nggt…………………
St Stivs,
MMs plans,rrrrrubish.My superb money making plan will make us richer than M City.
Ron Bacardi,
Regards the Snooker.
I know a man.
But,you ain’t seen me,right.
whay premium bonds and james bonds ………
We are I discussions with Man City,to take Vinicius Sousa on loan,with view to buy,for this season.Transfer fee is the problem,but working on it.
Don’t say I never tells you nuttin.Remember.
Ikatura to MunchenGkadbach for £4.5M, so he is out of the picture.
CL clubs Chelsea, Napoli and Bayern already sniffing around Ronaldo.
Man U may sell Dylan Levitt for £300,00-400,000. I think that’s a steal for this kid. We should go for him. A few good performances for Wales in Qatar, and his value will rocket.
Quick review of our dealings:
Maeda – loan converted to sale. Great.
CCV – loan converted to sale. Great.
Jota – loan converted to sale. Great.
With Scales, Montgomery and Boli out of the picture, we augment LB position with the newly dubbed Alex By The By. Great.
Kudos to ange and Nicholson for these moves.
Rogic gone ( I think? ). Julien halfway out the door. Bitton gone.
Overall, are we stronger? Yes, but not sufficiently so to overcome our very poor defensive record in a lesser competition to the Champions League.
Conclusion. We definitely need an oven ready centerback and a rock solid defensive midfield player to play in front of CCV and A Other, and solidify our defensive posture and shape when we do not have the ball. A huge number of CL goals are scored quickly after a change in possession, and we have been particularly vulnerable to this in Europe.
Report card. Doing great so far. Plug the 2 obvious gaps and it will be a slam dunk first class window. Just go for it, Celtic!
Emdy know what Lawwell Jr. is up to?
Bada @ 2.58
Your post had me excited briefly until I twigged that the Boris in question was Becker and not the other one. :)
St Stivs,
And Pounds,Shillings and Pennies.
Much cheaper.See the flyness there?.
TURKEYBHOY
Vinicius Souza doesn’t play for Man City.
From the little I saw, I would take a chance on the boy Levitt.
I would also take Tom Rogic back in a heartbeat, if there is any truth in his wanting to return.
RON BACARDI on 2ND JULY 2022 9:44 PM
TONTINE TIM
Yes. St Eunans did not have a home ground so we shared the gravel/ash pitch that was Our Holy Redeemers behind Clyde Street. Was first time I remember scoring a hat trick. After that we moved to the red pitch of St Columba school in North Drumry.
*Just catching up Ron, although I knew Clydebank quite well I could never figure out St Eunans and OHR as they seemed to be quite close together.
I also played at St Columba’s, it was a cup semi against St Peters Partick, they were a far superior side but a combination of endeavour and luck carried us through tae the final with a 4-2 win.
I played right half that night and foraged down the Boulevard/Great Western Road side of the right wing, twice I launched a couple of crosses over that resulted in goals
The wind seemed tae catch the ball and it flew up dropping just at the back post where our big left winger nodded them home.
The 2nd I know for a fact actually went out and came back in again, they went ballistic so much their star player was sent off, as I said we carried a bit of luck that summers night.
SAINT STIVS on 3RD JULY 2022 3:14 PM
quick scan of companies house.
Willie Haughey has zero ownership of Queens Park Football club Limited.
###
Would you not have to inspect the share register, rather than have a quick scan at Companies house, to establish that?
Where has the Tom Rogic rumour come from?
GGH- If only mate….
JIMTIM
Not having that.
You opened your comment by questioning people for looking forward to the new season following recent signings. At no time have I read any poster claiming we don’t need any more signings after Jota. You were warning people that more signings are needed for Europe. Again, nobody has said anything to the contrary.
Apart from my post being slightly tongue-in-cheek, it was my 4th comment this session but you chose to finish your post with “you Mr Grumpy today pal?”
No need.
23 year old Brazilian Vicinius Sousa is property of Lommel SK. Originally purchased from Flamengo for £2.75M, he was loaned to Mechelen for 2 seasons. Loaned ended 3 days ago on June 30.
Current value, £4.95M. Above info from Transfer Market.
https://readceltic.com/2022/07/01/morelos-to-real-madrid-as-flirtation-with-sevilla-comes-to-an-end/
You’ve got to laugh
EL
I was just about to ask the same question, can’t see anywhere in the media world about the wizard of oz coming back😱