Nigeria, Senegal, Qatar, Belgium. Lessons for Celtic

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Henry Onyekuru, the wide-attacking 20-year-old Celtic targeted in January, looks set to join Arsenal from Belgian club KAS Eupen. The player had a tremendous season for his newly promoted club, alerting Celtic, and prompting a walkout by the player, when his hope of a transfer in the winter window was rejected.

The moral of this story is that it has become increasingly difficult to sign even 20-year-olds who had no pedigree a year ago, when Arsenal can bid £6.8m for a player who is likely to sit for most of the season in the stands.

For Celtic, the Onyekuru experience should be informative. The player came to Belgium from the Aspire Academy in Qatar. He joined the Academy’s Senegal training facility as a 13-year-old, before moving to the Aspire Football Dreams (AFD) project at the Qatari capital, Doha.

The AFD is a humanitarian project, allowing promising kids the best opportunity to develop as footballers, while receiving an educational scholarship. As you would expect from a Qatari project, it is not underfunded.

KAS Eupen were bought by the Aspire Zone Foundation five years ago and are the Qataris route to Europe for their Academy graduates.

Processes like Aspires costs money and takes time, perhaps a decade, to bear fruit, but the money involved isn’t beyond Celtic’s grasp. As we continue to look to innovate, this case study is worth contemplating.

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326 Comments

  1. weebobbycollins on

    Why is it a ‘good’ kicking? Why not a ‘bad’ kicking?

     

    Did bmcuw get a good deletion or a bad deletion?

     

    He’ll survive the shame…

  2. WEEBOBBYCOLLINS

     

     

    Boaby deleted again?

     

     

    He’s gawn fur the recurd!

     

     

    Gonyersel Big Mhan!!!

  3. I could do without having to see manufactured controversy on cqn. I don’t think it adds anything to the site at all

  4. I never knew Brendan’s son Anton was training with us, off to Austria with the squad, hopefully he is a decent addition to the squad but have to admit know feck all about the boy.

  5. Hi Bhoys

     

     

    Just watched The Killers at Glastonbury on the iplayer superb. Brandon Flowers sure knows how to work the crowd. Watch and enjoy.

     

     

    KEEP THE FAITH

  6. Margaret McGill on

    In my opinion King is only trying to sell season tickets so will stoop to any low to make money. It’s a corporate world. Get used to power corruption and lies and quit throwing your rattles oot the pram you Old Firm lovers.

     

    As for BMCUW getting deleted total joke.

     

     

    Murderator1: is that a threat?

     

    Murderator2: Hard to say. No sweary words.

     

    Murderator1: Is it directed at anyone?

     

    Murderator2: hard to say. No sweary words.

     

    Murderator1: is it puerile?

     

    Murderator2: hard to say. No sweary words.

     

    Murderator1: is it anti catholic?

     

    Murderator 2: hard to say. No sweary words.

     

    Murderator1: Better get Dad.

  7. GuyFawkesaforeverhero on

    For Celts, this last week of the off-season sends us to the doldrums. After this week, the squad will have worked their shifts and we take off for 11months support again.

     

     

    Lurking huns, Celtic are the football club Sevco wish Rangers could’ve been. That ship has sailed. When the new season starts, here we go 7IAR! (only five more to go).

  8. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    Margaret McGill

     

     

    How far do the moderators intend to take this new censorship regime?

     

    Are we still allowed to say that Dave King is a snake-eyed lump of wid/pile of sawdust:)

     

    Or would that be deemed cruelty to bigots?

     

    Its a dilemma, no doubt about it.

     

     

    HH

  9. The Banter Years over on FF and sevco media are pure kwality, even remembering things I had totally forgotten about, feckin morons.

     

    They are back btw, we are doomed, funny how they are dead, yip they are dead, brave before a ball is kicked then reality hits them, amazing capicity to forget all their bravado and bullshit so they have.

  10. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    I bet Salman Rushdie never had to worry about CQN moderators:)

     

     

     

    HH

  11. Margaret McGill on

    The Green Man says SACK THE Board on 26th June 2017 10:22 pm

     

     

    I know. Im glad we started using “Moonhowlers” instead of “Midnights Children” or we could have had a fat arse

  12. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    Margaret McGill

     

     

    Its ok though when the huns are calling me a mental fenian bassa. Whats fair about that eh.

     

    Really hurts my feelings :)

     

    If snake-eyed is a bit too much….what about swivel-eyed, would that be more realistic?

     

     

    HH

  13. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    Blinkin’ flip,deleted again.

     

     

    Still,worth it this time. I stand by what I said about that article.

  14. Got a query.

     

    I have a tape which I wish to put onto cd.

     

    Not online at home.

     

    Any techi advice

     

    :-)

     

    HH

  15. mike in toronto on

    TGM

     

     

    I didn’t know biglino .. but from the context, I thought he was someone that I should probably know about …so just googled him! Always a learning experience on CQN.

     

     

    and I’m not sure you are allowed to say ‘snake-eyed’…. I think that might be considered anguisitc (discriminatory against snakes, although I’m not really sure that is a real word)

     

     

    :)

  16. THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 26TH JUNE 2017 7:54 PM

     

    Evening Celts

     

     

     

    Yeah, cant see any signings unless we qualify.

     

     

    Very,very cautious.

     

     

    PL will probably think because we won the treble….we dont need to strengthen.

     

     

    Yawn.

     

     

     

    HH

     

     

     

    Just where do we need to strengthen?.Who would drop out to let the new guy in?.Griff ,who I love,struggles to get a game.We have Armstrong ,Rogic,Broony,Eboue,Hayes,Mc Gregor,in the middle.

     

    A commanding in the air CH,is all I can see we need.For the 1st time in a long time,we go into the new season with a very good,settled,side.Unless its someone very special,I dont care if we go with the team we have now.

  17. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    Margaret McGill

     

     

    Some think that when the Berlin Wall came down, that was the end of the Stazi.

     

    Think again:)

     

    Nylon shirts, tank tops, and leather eye-patches, dead giveaway…..watch out for them:)

     

    Some of them have made the transition to social media.

     

     

    HH

  18. mike in toronto on

    an tearmann … I’ll bet there are some younger cqn’ers who have grown up in the digital age, who hardly know what a CD is, let alone a, god forbid, tape!

     

     

    I’m feeling old!

     

     

    :)

  19. The Green Man says SACK THE Board on

    Turkeybhoy

     

     

    Since you asked.

     

    Boyata, and Simonovic.

     

    There you go:)

     

     

    HH

  20. Margaret McGill on

    An Tearmann on 26th June 2017 10:32 pm

     

    Is the tape VCR, 4mm, 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, DLT?

     

    Recently I collected a few old VCR’s and 8mm SONY digitals and sent them to a company who take responsibility for converting them all to CD’s assuming the source is intact. The problem normally is that the original playing device is out of date. However, it will cost you. For example, one of them was the 2000 scottish cup final Celtic 3-0 Hibs.

  21. Margaret McGill on

    thats 3 deletions on the same page and no explanation. I think one of the murderators must be afflicted

  22. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    TURKEYBHOY on 26TH JUNE 2017 10:33 PM

     

     

     

    A commanding in the air CH,is all I can see we need.For the 1st time in a long time,we go into the new season with a very good,settled,side.Unless its someone very special,I dont care if we go with the team we have now.

     

     

    =========================================================================

     

     

    Trying to find a different way of saying ” I completely agree “.

     

     

    But that will have to do for now.

     

     

    Mind you , Chris Sutton has concerns about Craig Gordon .

     

    I never ignore what he says.