On Sunday we saw the value of our two January signings: Julian Araujo won Man of the Match, while Tomas Cvancara scored the opening goal. Time will tell if February’s three additions will prove as effective.
Junior Adamu (24) is primarily a striker but plays across the front line. Like Tomas, he joins from the Bundesliga, where has two and a half years with Freiburg. Junior’s first season at Freiburg was spent largely as a substitute, but he became starting striker in season 2024-25. That status ended in November 2024 when he was red carded for violent conduct at Dortmund and received a three match ban. The player never recovered his regular starting spot after that setback until April.
Celtic have an option to buy the Nigeria-born Austria international. 10 goals in his breakthrough season in Austria with Salzburg got him the move to Germany. He has played a lot of football for a 24-year-old, so should be ready for the challenge of the Scottish Premiership.
Norwegian Joel Mvuka (22) had an anxious wait before his move to Celtic was confirmed late last night after issues with his medical. Consequentially, the deal was downgraded from a permanent transfer to a loan with an option to buy. You have probably seen him before, he made substitute appearances in both Europa League games against Celtic in 2022
After spending 18 months at Bodo/Glimt, he earned a move to Lorient, where he has mostly been used in right-midfield. I’m told he has pace to burn and will get up and down the right side to support attacking and defensive play.
Benjamin Arthur (20) arrived on loan from Brentford, allowing Stephen Welsh to return to Motherwell until the end of the season. Brentford have high hopes for the player, so there was no chance of an option to buy.
The others going out the door were Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, who managed to convince three managers he had no interest in being at Celtic. Life tip: recruit attitude before talent. Johnny Kenny leaves for Bolton Wanderers until the end of the season. Johnny endured a torrid run of form after such a promising display in the League Cup semi-final in November. You get the feeling his chance at Celtic has passed.
My big worry of yesterday was when Nottingham Forest bid £25m for Arne Engels. That figure has been Celtic’s ceiling, so any bid of that size would have caused serious thought, but with the title race so tight, it would have been too risky to sell a first-team player.
Under a different manager, Arne regularly started on the bench early in the season. The speed with which he went from being out of the team to being subject to a Celtic-record bid is fascinating.
The old mantra, we hope to leave the transfer window stronger than we went into it, was surely met. The squad lost fringe players and, even before yesterday, added significant value in Tomas Cvancara and Juian Araujo.
With Tomas, Junior Adamu and the return of Kelechi Iheanacho, Martin O’Neill has significant options for the striker role, which should allow Daizen Maeda to setting into the wide position. We are also hopeful of seeing Callum Osmand next month.
Kieran Tierney looks to have regained full fitness, while Marcelo Saracchi is back training and will be available for selection this month. Alistair Johnston is still some way from returning, but Araujo is a productive deputy, with Colby Donovan and Anthony Ralston as backup.
Auston Trusty and Liam Scales will be the focus in central defence; it remains to be seen what action Benjamin Arthur sees, or if he figures ahead of Dane Murray.
Martin is not short of options in the middle of the park. McGregor, Bernardo, Hatate, Engels, McCowan and Nygren have been used for the middle three positions. I expect might see Joel Mvuka in a deeper role – more like McCowan’s position than Yang’s.
Will it be enough? I would mistrust anyone confident either way on that question. With the two new signings we have seen, and the return to fitness of several absentees, in addition to yesterday’s business, we can at least be hopeful. One month in the roles, Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney have played their cards. It will be a fascinating end to the season.
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As the original Bunnet once said “we have a plan and we stick to the plan, or we dont have a plan at all.”
Hearts have a plan, a really smart one. They sign players based on an overall strategy, not filling holes as they appear. 15 signings since Tony Bloom came in, 4 in this window, all of them driven by data and looking for value, within a budget. Transfer fees are secondary, wages probably the same. They stuck to the plan, didnt sign a striker, signed a midfielder on loan who had previously been identified by Blooms guys at Brighton.
They were able to react to a left-field enquiry about one for their young prospects. Nobody could have seen both Spurs and Arsenal coming in for James Wilson but both did, there were two offers on the table and he went to Spurs on loan with an option to buy. He’s a squad player who doesnt get many minutes in the SPL but he does play in a position where they have injuries.
We had a plan, it involved signing players like Arne Engels, getting value from them on the pitch and then selling them one when a big offer came in. That was why we signed him, it was part of the clubs plan, that was why he came to Celtic in the first place, he wouldn’t have come here if there wasnt the promise of a move to Nottingham Forrest.
Nobody can argue that it wasnt much more than his market value, even taking his age into consideration. Unfortunately we stopped sticking to the plan a while ago, so we dont have a plan at all. We missed out on a one-off opportunity, the player missed out on a career-defining move, and we weren’t able to improve on a player who even the manager who signed him and was heavily invested in his success didnt rate.
It was an opportunity missed because of our strategic failures over the last two and a half years. Mistakes like that arent apparent when theyre being made, and arent even obvious at the point they crystallise in to failure, but thats exactly what it was. A strategy like that bears fruit over time but it also fails quickly if it isnt done properly.
Our recruitment strategy changed on Jan 5th when Martin took over again. Short term solutions were a must, keeping players who wanted to go for huge fees, signing players to fill holes as short term fixes. Its a ridiculously risky position to be in with less than a month to go in January, but the failed appointment of WN and the atrophy in the squad over years meant that it was the only option.
Martin and Shaun have done a brilliant job from what I can see. Its not always about us and them but I htink we’ve done better than both the Huns and Hearts in getting in players who can have an instant impact and help in problem positions. Tom and Julian already look like a class above anything else in Scotland in their positions, we have three serious options at centre forward that we we’re told was our main problem position. Fresh blood in other areas, the squad will get a lift and the manager and coaches will be invested in getting the most of out of the players they have brought in.
I think we’ll win the league, we’re back to being favourites after being second or third for a short period, but Martin is only human and putting all your trust in a manager got us in this mess before so we’d be foolish to do it again.
What Hearts have, which we seem to be completely incapable of is a unity of purpose. I fear it will be the difference. I was positive last night going to bed but reading the comments section on here and elsewhere Martin and Shaun are probably going to have to operate with one hand tied behind their backs and they wont be able to rely on the support to give unqualified support.
My god. Even now we have folk falling over themselves to make up some absolute shite to justify their long held views.
Cognitive dissonance or just really really really sad folks who need help.
So Celtic made up bids from Nottingham Forrest. In the middle of a busy trading day. Knowing it would likely demotivate their player. Yup.
Surprised Gumpy hasn’t honoured the blog with a visit to excoriate anyone providing an ounce of rationality.
Celtic40me @ 2:20 pm, The long wait is over @ 2:23 pm,
It will certainly be interesting to see how Mato gets on and where they play him.
McInness said it was very unlikely that they could bring a striker in when Shankland was injured and they have let young James Wilson go to Spurs.
They lost a lot of goals with Shankland out.
Yet all three title SPL challengers have a fragility about them.
However, Hearts with six points from R2ngers and seven from Celtic are looking good in the H2Hs
That will need to change if we want to win the league.
Hail Hail
I doubt Engels has missed out on “a career-defining move” by Celtic retaining his services one and half years into his four year contract.
So Celtic made up bids from Nottingham Forrest. In the middle of a busy trading day. Knowing it would likely demotivate their player. Yup.
—
did celtic come out and say forest bid 25 million for engels? i must have missed that statement.
BURNLEY78 on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 2:58 PM
I went a few times to Griffin Park and to be honest to Most London clubs back then when not travelling up every other weekend to see Celtic lose another league to rangers.
I think thats true of a lot of Celtic supporters down here who enjoy watching football. Its a shame the game has changed and you cant just turn up and pay through the turnstiles any more, and its so expensive that trips to the big clubs are rarer these days but I try and get to different grounds with my boys. We’re going to the old olympic stadium soon to watch West Ham soon which should be interesting.
CHAIRBHOY on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 3:05 PM
It will certainly be interesting to see how Mato gets on and where they play him.
Sure. I’ll be glued to my telly.
LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 3:06 PM
Did Celtic come out and say forest bid 25 million for engels? i must have missed that statement.
If you spent all day with Sky Sports News on in the background like the sad sack that I am you will have seen one of their reporters broadcasting from a room in the City Ground giving you live updates on the bids for him and the player at ‘Boro pretty much as they happened.
Celtic40me @ 3:10 pm,
“Sure. I’ll be glued to my telly.”
Thought you were Spurs fans!?
Good to see you have a passing interest in Scottish football…
Hail Hail
79CAPS on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 2:35 PM
I thought the same regarding Welsh v Arthur.
Welsh is clearly rated by Motherwell and has been decent for us. Odd to ship him out and bring in a guy who has played the same number of professional league games as me!
Either MON/Maloney just don’t rate/trust him, or they like him and don’t think he can develop on the bench at Celtic, hence back out on loan. But that would be especially strange in a window which is all about short term needs.
The only other thought would be strengthening Motherwell to play against our rivals without materially weakening ourselves. That would be some 4D chess – can’t buy that.
Martin O’Neill praises ‘remarkable’ Celtic resolve on Engels.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/25821266.martin-oneill-praises-remarkable-celtic-resolve-engels/
A good thing was that we kept hold of Calmac. The danger was that Brendan would come back for him as he did when he was at Leicester and he’d be unable resist the lure of the oil dollar.
Perhaps it was never happening anyway, but the Saudi league changed direction in January. They arent looking at high profile older players to boost the profile anymore, and their quotas mean they cant fill their squads with foreign players who dont play. They are looking at younger talent that can be developed into the starts of the future to make the league more competitive and sustainable. Which would have worrying consequences for us.
Brendan was more likely to have been looking at younger players, but not Arne who he didnt think was good enough to get his place ahead of Nygren.
Wee bit o AI to welcome the bhoys
https://x.com/i/status/2018707264824102959
HH
Young Arne has had a bit of a rollercoaster in finding a role in the team , primarily in my view , being messed about by Brendan. He started pretty steady facing the opposition goal making decent forward passes , looked good in European games where the football is more structured.
SPL games he started to get involved in midfield duals with back to goal attempting to fend off opponents ( a bit like Hatate) and more often than not getting the ball pinched off him.
Answer to that problem was he got dropped for a period so he could learn by watching the game from the dug out. He emerged from the naughty step to be played wide left in the midfield, to which he was unsuited and then moved back to the right.
Following season dropped at the start rumour was for not having a goal scoring threat , came back into the team just as Brendan was working his ticket with the Honda Civics.
Arne is a really good player , he gives us athleticism in midfield , good forward passer of the ball , can tackle , good delivery from free kicks and corners.
The fact that our tier 1 manager spent a club record fee and then couldn’t integrate him into the team structure says more about the manager than the player.
Arne needs to stand up and be counted over the next few months and there will be better offers from better teams I’m sure.
Oneardsupwardscfc
Stebhoy – Take a look at our goals conceded over last 10 games or so. It’s night and day since MON returned.
Just listened to Martin’s press conference.
He seems happy.
Tough game tomorrow in what looks like will be difficult conditions. Our away performances even under MON have not been entirely convincing.
Hoping the squad gets a bounce with the new additions
CHAIRBHOY on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 3:22 PM
Seriously, I just told you where Mato played when he came on as sub on Saturday night.
Theres a lot to enjoy about football that doesnt involve Celtic, you should try it.
When I first moved down in 1980 (46 not 36 years ago) I used to go to Spurs, Arsenal, Fulham, QPR and Brentford to watch the odd game.
QPR had the original artificial pitch, every time the ball bounced it went about 30 feet in the air – dreadful to watch.
I got a couple of season tickets for Griffin Park a few years ago. Used to have a pillar obscuringyl my view of the 18 yard line at one end of the pitch. When they were demolishing Griffin Park, I considered offering to buy the pillar to install it in front of my telly for old times sake.
Log-in pash
Celtic40me @ 3:35 pm,
No I shouldn’t…
Go to the soulless Olympic Stadium when I saw McAvennie and Cottee play up front with Alan Devonshire and Ward on the wing at Upton Park with my half Celtic half WHU tammy on….
That’s football…
You enjoy your sheltered little existence and your bread and circuses woo~hoo
Hail Hail
Log in problems.
I’ve been using Duck Duck Go for years on my android. Never had a problem and it is ad free. An option for any that might need it
Engels huff status zero at Lennoxtown training
CLINKO
Perfect for CelticQuackNews 👍
TIM MALONE WILL TELL on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 3:39 PM
Sounds about right, it was the same at Kenilworth Road, but without away fans, which made it even more artificial.
I used two sit in the East stand at Highbury, you’d need to drop the ceiling in the living room to recreate the experience after they moved.
Celtic FC just having the presence of MON inside the building is like having a dressing room full of Henrik Larsson level players.
Just like that!
MON does that to people who are acutely aware of this all encompassing vibe that he and he alone generates.
If Dolly the Sheep can be cloned then we have to clone Martin O’Neill.
If we don’t the only way is down when, if, he leaves in the summer.
Its amazing how a now old softly spoken Irishman called “MON” can turn a Celtic dressing room who’s heads were on the floor, into a dressing room full of uppity Lions, scratching the doors off to get onto the pitch.
Biggest sign for me was McCoist trying whether the burning gloom for all Huns.
I think McCoist and Lennon speak straight down the line, so his worried about MON face, for me, showed how REALLY worried they are.
By putting a stern face on just as he was questioned about Mr MON’s return to save Celtic, McCoist had the look which said: “Absolutely ANYTHING can happen for Celtic, just with MON being present in there.”
Hope so.
Sionnaigh on 3rd February 2026 3:28 pm
Martin O’Neill praises ‘remarkable’ Celtic resolve on Engels.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/25821266.martin-oneill-praises-remarkable-celtic-resolve-engels/
BSR @ 3:59 pm,
The bid might boost the bhoy’s confidence – he’s a better player than he is showing….
Hail Hail
Gedinte on 3rd February 2026 1:50 pm
FACTS
1. Stronger now that before the window started (yes, a very low bar) ✅
2. In MON we trust (even blindly cos he’s a legend) ✅
3. The £70M+ in cash reserves, remain… in reserve ❌
The £77M in cash reserves at end June 2025 will be significantly diminished as we burn cash to cover losses stemming from our Champions League wage bill and Europa league income.
There’s some cover from the sales of Kuhn, Lagerbielke and Idah but likely not enough to cover operating losses.
CHAIRBHOY on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 3:56 PM
Go to the soulless Olympic Stadium when I saw McAvennie and Cottee play up front with Alan Devonshire and Ward on the wing at Upton Park with my half Celtic half WHU tammy on….
That’s football…
That was football back then, its what we did. I’m not sure about a West Ham half and half though – Upton Park was terrifying place full of NF nasties who I wouldn’t have been to keen to associate myself with. Arsenal were the Celtic team in London
“…Champions League wage bill…”
—
hmmm.
not sure about that!
There’s some cover from the sales of Kuhn, Lagerbielke and Idah but likely not enough to cover operating losses
—
‘operating losses’ ?
the plc made a net profit of 34 million quid upto the year ending last june.
wish i could make a similar ‘operating loss’ at the bookies
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 4:22 PM
Swiss Ramble had us earning €46m in TV revenue from the CL last season and €13m so far from the Europa this.
Operating profit last year was £11m
I’d guess we wont make much, if any book profit from Idah and Lagerbielke, after sell on fees £10m for Kuhn?
Celtic40me
I actually played at Kenilworth Rd and Loftus Rd. Luton’s park was actually the worst of the two. It literally was like concrete with a carpet laid on top.
Although the ball did stoat up a mile when it bounced. So many lost balls over the stand opposite the main one at Luton. It was made up of weird exec boxes back then.
Bisham Abbey was the best artificial pitches back then. Peterborough had a decent one but not at London Rd.
Another funny thing of that era was the rise of Basset / Gould and Wimbledon and also John Becks Cambridge.
Martín looked very confident in his presser. If he’s happy with the window I’m happy. He’s played a blinder with the Board. They have definitely made positive decisions they wouldn’t have for Nancy or Rodgers by the end. He gave them due credit too the wily old fox.
Personally I couldn’t care less if it’s loan players provided they can ally quality with attitude. If Hertz or the huns had brought in the same quality/ pedigree we have I’d be worried. And you can bet they will be about us.
Come in Saints, do us a solid tonight.
If MO’N does win this league we should crowd fund a statue over the summer…
Chairbhoy
If ever there’s a day for Celtic Boardroom Groupiness to go off the radar, it’ll be when the transfer window has just slammed shut.
The sell em high ‘successful structure’ has collapsed around them, even with a ‘blame Brendan signing ‘ 🤣 for whom they were getting double.
Properly run executive would have anticipated bids Kyogo Maeda, for sure Engels was late but they did have time from when interest was mooted.
Trigger warning ⚠️⚠️
Some may be offended by what they hear:
https://youtu.be/fckMnE-N7Uk?si=gLjlsDwO6fEz-8l5
The reason we got the big offer for Engels, was due to excellent performances in the CL and EL,we won’t see bids like that for a while IMO, the way the club is failing and the poor standard of players we currently have.
BURNLEY78 on 3RD FEBRUARY 2026 4:45 PM
“I actually played at Kenilworth Rd and Loftus Rd. Luton’s park was actually the worst of the two. It literally was like concrete with a carpet laid on top.
Although the ball did stoat up a mile when it bounced. So many lost balls over the stand opposite the main one at Luton. It was made up of weird exec boxes back then.”
I remember it, I might have seen you play then. The pitch was really awful and the boxes were really strange, a whole stand of single tier boxes and no fans. Even before then it was a terrible ground to go to, it was always getting smashed up by away fans which didn’t make it much worse. I went a fair bit until the owner and local Tory MP made it membership only and no away fans.
The joys of football in the eighties, eh?