There should be lessons for Celtic from what happened to three forwards who started last month playing in Belgium. Anderlecht’s Kasper Dolberg seemed to be on the hook for a move to Celtic, but he was a player in demand. That has consequences.
Kasper and his agent knew that players in demand often receive bids late in the window. Why would they move before everyone has shown their hand? While Celtic tried to get the deal over the line, Ajax moved in with an offer. The player had a choice and chose to go back to the Netherlands. This is not an exception, players will often make choices like this rather than come to Scotland.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha had a good season at Royal Antwerp. With a deal to Celtic in the offing, Balikwisha’s agent had a duty to offer him everywhere north of Scottish football in the food chain. We can assume that Michel-Ange had little prospect of a bite, so signed with Celtic.
The lesson: try to recruit top players with years’ experience in highly scouted leagues and you will often fail. If they have offers from better leagues, they will go there rather than come to Scotland.
A year after Genk paid Celtic £2.4m for Hyeon-gyu Oh, he was subject to a €28m bid from Stuttgart. Reports on why the deal fell through are vague: a medical issue was reported, promoting Stuttgart to reduce their offer to €20m, which Genk declined.
There are so many lessons from Hyeon-gyu Oh’s year in Belgium it is painful to go over them. We had a player in the building who did not get the development support at Celtic which was available to him at Genk. Adam Idah was the recipient of that help, which resulted his sale on Monday for a £2m loss. You can get recruitment perfect, but if you don’t get development right, you are wasting your time.
If we want a striker who Stuttgart are prepared to pay around €20m for, we will not find them in Belgium. Recruitment is difficult, requires proper resourcing and absolutely cannot be done well working the agent circuit.
Scottish football is about to get a lesson on how it’s done by Tony Bloom’s Hearts. If we persist in trying to sign top strikers from Anderlecht, they will soon overtake us.
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AD- Nicholson is a very well paid puppet
Tomorrow’s article, will pine for the days of Mark Lawwell, is he still on Gardening Leave?
I can’t decide if I’m in a metaphorical echo chamber or whether it’s literally the same person talking to himself.
Football’s Financial Shame on BBC iplayer well worth a watch,and no it’s not about the Celtic Board……Tommy Johnson among a lot of high profile ex players who got scammed, and HMRC are after them all for around £1.6 million each,a tough watch at times
EKBhoy @ 7:49 pm,
Well that’s interesting.
If we didn’t know until late Thursday, whether our main centre forward target was actually leaving Anderlecht then what was the plan?
Keep hold of Adam Idah and go forward with Adam and Shin as our main strikers?
Bizarre.
Even stranger that we were letting Adam go before we knew if Dolberg was coming or not.
Hail Hail
Chairbhoy- might have been the player and agent, not looking forward to Day 4 of haggling….
Please can we get Andy Robertson on loan?
“There’s interest in Adam but like I’ve said to the club, we can’t let anyone go, especially on the front line, unless we have replacements,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I’m not in any rush to move Adam, that’s the honesty of it and he’s not obviously in any big rush to leave either. However, if there’s an opportunity there where a deal suits all parties and there’s something that can come in that I’m happy with then of course, we have to look at “
This whole window has been a real head scratcher for everyone
Chairbhoy
Kyogo bid comes in late – accepted – no time to replace
Kuhn bid early doors – accepted – no time to replace 🤣 till you’re in the Europa.
Idah bid comes in late – accepted – no time to replace – free agent list.
We just couldn’t ‘ get anyone over the line ‘ – rinse and repeat
Normal big football clubs would buy, in preparation then sell the players that want away.
It’s a Mickey Mouse set up, and it will be the same after BR moves on.
But then you and most supporters know this.
HH
An Tearmann on 4th September 2025 4:43 pm
“we talk the talk and walk the walk re our ambition”
……….
And yet, “we” have….
A stadium full of sheep who urny allowed to ask an unscripted AGM question, and jist shrug their shooders and say: “It is whit it is”?!
What’ll be next, get rid of Nicholson, and bring in Keir Starmer?!
The Lobby gets, what the Lobby wants.
Its like Witchcraft, how a Witches coven gets elected into the local parliament in scotland,[look what they did to Tommy Sheridan, Alex Salmond, lying about their concern for Palestinians, whilst sending scottish tax payers money to the genocide mob] and….
ABRACADABRA….Cellic get hit with “new” CBC abuse cases, which probably emerged fae a Hollyrude Ouija board????!!!
And there are more to come says Cellic???!!!
Is it not about time that Cellic PLC got Fergus McCann’s lying erchie over from Canada, at the AGM, and asked him if, when FM told the World that the CBC abuse cases were ALL dealt with that he was 100% correct. Or, that he fkd up?
Or that someone at Celtic has fallen for a pack of lies?
Who`s lies?
And who is pulling the strings of the liars?
If nobody is allowed to ask a question, how do we find the truth?
A truth that might prevent Parkhead from being turned into a housing complex for “the new Scots” from not Scotland?!?!?!
Virtue signalling is a lazy and un-Tim trick to fall for.
If Idah wasnt in a rush to leave why did we sell him with no replacement *scratches head*
79caps – cheers.
Really good info.
Regardless of the precise details, the bang for buck these (handful of) clubs get in these current greedy times is just incredible.
In fairness, ‘Yang Hyun-Jun of the Birmingham’ just doesn’t sound as good as ‘ Yang Hyun-Jun of the Celtic ‘
spidey101@3.51
Thanks for the considered response, appreciated.
Pretty sure it was also Burnley78 who has also mentioned Chris Davies in the dispatches.
Now, I am not predicting Chris Davies will ever be Celtic manager, then again I never predicted Neil Lennon would be before he was forty, but I would like to think he could be a ‘prospective’ manager of our club at some point. Not while he keeps Birmingham going forward though, and maybe en route to the EPL, no, but Championship is one tough league, just as easy to lose momentum as to gain it. Be interesting to see how this season works out for him. Nobody’s fool that is for sure.
celtic40me on 4th September 2025 8:49 pm
“If Idah wasnt in a rush to leave why did we sell him with no replacement *scratches head*”
……….
Because they did the same with Kyogo in the last window.
AND…..
60,000 dullard sheep voted the PLC grifters back in again?!?!?!?!
…hits off wall like Woody Woodpecker!
If Yang wasnt going to be allowed to leave until we had a replacement why do we have one but he’s still here even though he travelled to Birmingham? *scratches head*
If our recruitment is so bad why does Chris Davies keep wanting our players to help Birmingham get into the Prem?
Chairbhoy @ 6:55pm – cheers.
I’m under illusions as to Shin’s capability right now.
He’s nowhere near Kyogo.
He’s definitely rougher than Daizen was when he arrived.
If he’s humble though and keen to improve?
I think he can give us some useful minutes and yardage this season, bringing even just a thin extra slice of value.
All those slices – of varying thicknesses – add up.
Typo: under no illusions
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 8:21 PM
EKBhoy @ 7:49 pm,
Well that’s interesting.
If we didn’t know until late Thursday, whether our main centre forward target was actually leaving Anderlecht then what was the plan?
Keep hold of Adam Idah and go forward with Adam and Shin as our main strikers?
Bizarre.
Even stranger that we were letting Adam go before we knew if Dolberg was coming or not.
Hail Hail
….
I’m joining the dots here …. so maybe the high wire act is that we’d advance notice that Sevilla were ripping up the Nigerian fellas contract.
Thus the outrage on the internet may need to be pulled back ?
Longshotcfc
CELTIC40ME on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 8:49 PM
If Idah wasnt in a rush to leave why did we sell him with no replacement *scratches head*
….
There was always a replacement lined up
Seeabovecfc
EKBhoy@9.08
Maybe there was an “arrangement “ between the two clubs.
Yang’s transfer was said to have fallen through because Birmingham couldn’t get the paperwork done before 7pm.
Regarding the contract being ripped up.
celtic40me on 4th September 2025 8:49 pm
If Idah wasnt in a rush to leave why did we sell him with no replacement *scratches head*
Recouping money and IMO the only highlight of the Window getting £7 million for him
BTB – good luck with trying to Devil’s Advocate, remain objective or keep an open mind.
The mob has spoken:
AN DÚN on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2025 9:05 PM
Dexter
Yamada is an established J League striker. How does he get excluded?
—-
Because he’s shite ?
Rumour Nicholson talking to Sky Sports tomorrow, no doubt a list given to the Sky monkey,and not to veer off script, will be like GB News interviewing Nigel Farage
EKBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:10 PM
So the replacement for our 9m striker was always a guy who became a free agent on deadline day?
Thats some plan
What was all that fuss about Dolberg?
Bada – if true, why don’t you listen to it first before spewing invective?
Just a thought.
!!BADA BING!! on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:18 PM
Never his biggest fan but I’d rather he was still here. Brendan said he wasn’t desperate to leave so we didn’t need to sell and at least we know what we’ve got with him instead of Iheanacho who is a huge gamble
And as we always hear it’s not like we’d spend the money
!!Bada Bing!! @ 8:37 pm,
Exactly:)))))
Yes, day four in the big sucker house…
The Tunisians more used to the barter…
BSR @ 8:44 pm,
Yes, some line that, you know you can see it from space…
Hail Hail
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full @ 9:05 pm,
Yes, I’m seeing the new Dixie Dean or the new Nadir Cifci!?
Hail Hail
EKBhoy @ 9:08 pm,
Well I’m assuming Brendan and Adam Sadler had the Kelechi thing as a possibility, if all else fails… cough, cough…
If we believe all the strike-outs, quite optimistic expecting Sevilla to rip up the contract on the last day.
Of course cash and substantial wages might have helped.
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:40 PM
So Brendan really is in charge. We got there in the end
Huge pressure on Iheanacho to succeed now
Very much a “Brendan signing”. Let’s hope hes fit and firing from the start.
CELTIC40ME on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:26 PM
EKBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:10 PM
So the replacement for our 9m striker was always a guy who became a free agent on deadline day?
Thats some plan
What was all that fuss about Dolberg?
….
Dolberg was a 48 hour opportunity as Anderlecht got papped out of Europe , our new bloke prior to being in the wrong movie ( see Chris Sutton ) was a £20m bloke.
Only a possibility that we knew he’d be free seems strange we’d tied up this deal must admit I was reconciled with him heading to Turkey for big bucks.
Based partly on alternative assumptions, to be honest I’d prefer if these assumptions were the real ones …. the alternative is that the transfer window was down to random luck by definition outwith our control.
HH
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:40 PM
EKBhoy @ 9:08 pm,
Well I’m assuming Brendan and Adam Sadler had the Kelechi thing as a possibility, if all else fails… cough, cough…
If we believe all the strike-outs, quite optimistic expecting Sevilla to rip up the contract on the last day.
Of course cash and substantial wages might have helped.
Hail Hail
…..
Left field we knew in advance Sevilla were ripping up the contract …. It is possible we had a back channel to the player.
Itcanbetrickylookingincfc
EKBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 9:49 PM
Dolberg’s agent said there was an agreement with Anderlecht that he could go at a certain price, but that the “right club” never materialized
Perhaps we were never Mr Right but we tried and it looks like we only moved on to our second choice when he decided to go back to his happy place.
Maybe we had Iheanacho lined up before, or as well, but a free agent freed up on deadline day doesnt scream forward planning to me