Celtic delayed announcing the arrival of Sebastian Tounekti (23) from Hammarby until the moment the transfer window closed. This felt like a tacit acceptance that supporter expectation would not be satisfied if the announcement came earlier in the day, and no others arrived in the evening.
Brendan Rodgers let us know he had a veto on the departure of Adam Idah and would not agree to his move to Swansea until a replacement arrived. You and I could reasonably expect Adam’s move was confirmation a replacement was on his way. We were wrong (and I am not prepared to get enthusiastic about out of contract players).
Let’s look at the substance. Celtic signed 10 players in the summer transfer window, eight on permanent contracts and two defenders on loans. Tounekti was the most expensive at £5.2m. The Norway-born Tunisia international spent only six months at Hammarby, in which time his transfer fee quadrupled. Our fee feels high.
Sebastian joins Michel-Ange Balikwisha (24), who arrived for £5m from Royal Antwerp. Thrown in at the deep end on Sunday, Michel-Ange did well enough for a player who hardly knew anyone on the field.
Our most important signing so far is Benjamin Nygren (23). Benji has already scored three league goals, times runs into the box and shows real purpose defending and on attack. He is clearly not a winger and will hopefully only be seen wide in emergency circumstances, or when we are trying to close a game out.
Kieran Tierney (28) returned to great fanfare. KT is the best player to emerge from the Celtic youth setup in 15 years. His engine allows him to get up and down the field and he is the best crosser at the club (that we know about). He has yet to reach full fitness and will continue to improve as he gets there.
We signed a striker!!! Shin Yamada (25) arrived from Kawasaki Frontale for £1.4m. I expect Shin was recruited as a player we could develop over the season. That plan may now be reconsidered, post Idah departure. Callum Osmand (19) joins the front-line options from Fulham, but we have yet to see him in competitive action.
Left-sided defender Hayato Inamura (23) came in from Albirex Niigata. Last month Brendan Rodgers suggested the player was not ready for Celtic action and may be sent out on loan. Plans change, I suppose. Ross Doohan (27) arrived back at the club to fill the role as third choice goalkeeper.
Two defenders came in on loan: left back Marcelo Saracchi (27), the Uruguayan international, who joins from Boca Juniors, and central defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (19), who came in from Manchester City.
Out of the building went Nicolas Kuhn (25) to Como for £15m. This departure so early in the window was inexplicable. Greg Taylor (27) left on a free and is already missed by many in the support.
Braga paid £2.4m for Gus Lagerbielke (25), Rapid Vienna paid £1.2m for Marco Tilio (24), while Ligue 1 side Nantes took Hyeok-kyu Kwon (24) for £200k. The development of Kwon, like Gus and Marco, will be interesting to watch in the season ahead. I’m thinking Oh, but we will discuss that particular player later this week.
As well as the aforementioned Idah (24) leaving for £7m to Swansea, Scott Bain left for Falkirk. Luis Palma (Lech Poznan) and Maik Nawrocki (Hannover 96) went out on loan.
I have seen new Celtic arrivals mistakenly written off too many times to fall into that trap, but we are on safe ground to say this transfer window was poorly conceived and terribly executed (the former resulted in the latter). The possible arrival of an out of contract striker will change this, I would rather we did nothing and develop Shin and Johnny Kenny instead.
Lots to say about the Kasper Dolberg fiasco tomorrow. He encapsulates our poorly conceived window and why we ended up as we did.
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HH CQN
Another Peter Lawwell transfer shitshow special.
A bunch of accountants masquerading as a football club.
An Tearmann you heard this yet?
Billy Bragg – Hundred Year Hunger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1axjhKB96to
Existence is Resistance
HH
Now that big Ange has had his taste of the English football scene I would love to see him back running the club. Probably Hans Cristian Anderson stuff
Bamford is injury prone and washed up. This is pure desperation. Had he been mentioned a month ago, people would’ve laughed it off immediately
This site is a joke missing the biggest Celtic story for decades —- Board incompetence.
Celtic Pravda News more appropriate or even Lawwell Quick News
CQN is subject to ridicule elsewhere due to its slavish devotion to the Board incapable of taking an objective position.
How pathetic P67 tries to blame the manager, pity the team never got beat so he could put the boot in.
Really weird behaviour for a so called Celtic fan.
As long as you continue to spout your nonsense we will be here to provide factual balance. The beautiful thing about Celtic fans is they can think for themselves unlike the gullible. Wrong audience…
Ange and many others, wouldn’t trust or work for these clowns
I would love Ange back too.
Welsh getting Ange’s pelters for not passing forward is forever burned into my memory and what I want to see in a Celtic team.
We are not a well run club.
We are not a big club.
We don’t deserve to be at the big table.
We are where we deserve to be.
Brendan is a far better manager than Ange.
HH
We should have gone for Bowie
Now we’re Under Pressure
He could be one of our Heroes- in fact he could have been our Starman
If there aren’t Changes, we should Rebel, Rebel
Now the season may got from Ashes to Ashes
Board have acted like Absolute Beginners
Out rivals will be Dancing in the Street
Ange won’t come back
He has had to endure the clownshittery of the board, refs, media and fans
DEXTER P. BAMPOT on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2025 10:15 PM
Excellent 😄
Take a bow(ie) 😄
Mistertaximan @ 3:49pm …
Very good.
Not the whole truth but lots of truth.
Including this …
“One thing is certain, though. Celtic plc is wealthier than ever”
Today, true.
End of the season not true.
At least €18m walked as a result of a collective failure.
… with the Celtic PLC a sizeable player in that collective.
board, refs, media is working in a partisan envirnonment
Us fans, we are all batshit crazy
Blame the board (just buy the players), blame the manager (horseshoe football), blame the refs (cant say anything here, the refs are rank)
However this summer, the board can suck a d!ck, they have been rank rotten, although Brendan cannot get away without criticism
Patrick Bamford is a fine footballer.
He’s got a good touch, pace to go in behind, can hold it up short, links well and has decent vision to bring team mates into the game.
He’s got only one glaring weakness i can see
(Having watched him many times).
He is not particularly good at putting the ball in the net regularly.
DEXTER P. BAMPOT on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2025 10:15 PM
Fully agree.
The board thinks everything is Hunky Dory while we hit a new Low.
Dust settling on the window.
I’m starting to feel a bit more Glass Half Full.
Brendan Rodgers will get a tune out of this group.
One of the first things he needs to do
(which has perhaps been overlooked)
Ensure our #1 striker gets his mojo back.
With reinforcements on the wing that could happen.
The Board’s difficulty is Kenny’s opportunity.
Interesting to see the forced negativity around us signing two African wingers.
For some people, every silver lining has a cloud.
Hey ho.
Still waiting for the 23:00 Europa deadline. Why do I do it to myself?
B2B
Sure I read that the huns will lose more players to the African winter tournament than us!
However they have sold two since…
“Rangers’ current African players include Nigerian forward Cyriel Dessers, Ivorian midfielder Mohamed Diomandé, Burkinabé defender Nasser Djiga, and Moroccan forward Hamza Igamane”
To those who replied to my Kasper Dolberg observations earlier – thank you.
Might have expressed myself clumsily.
No broad point about our transfer strategy intended.
I don’t know where Dolberg appeared on our list of striker targets or when he was added to it.
It does look like it was a short list, with the next name on it coming from Brendan’s speed dial.
(But I don’t know)
I did intend to make two narrower points if I may though.
First, if we are serious about being peered with the likes of Ajax and Bruges
(Focuses on sustainability / turnover c.25-30% more than us?)
… it stands to reason we’ll go after players they may fancy.
And very often they’ll be more attractive.
Regrettable, but the cost of doing that kind of business rather than going after the unwanted.
Second, on the Sunderland angle, the emergence in the traditional pecking order of these ‘starlings on speed’ I mentioned earlier should not (IMHO) be discounted.
Reasonable to believe Ajax potentially consider themselves a medium-large player?
And yet a newly promoted EPL team, awash with funny money, can come along and offer them 15% of their turnover for a player?
Be it 01 July or 31 August .. back fill available or not the answer is likely to be YES.
Its not just the insertion of these clubs into the chain.
Its the speed of the start of the chain reaction they can generate with their access to the softest of money.
A game changer.
✍️ Celtic Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Kelechi Iheanacho on a one-year deal, subject to international clearance, with the club having the option of a further year.
#WelcomeKelechi | #CelticFC🍀
Right. Kenny and Shin it is for the EL – a competition we were told could be good for coefficients.
Off to bed 😴
Like when we signed Kasper using Brendan’s WhatsApp contacts!
Wow. We have a player who can hold the ball up , score and bring experience to the team. He is young too. Not sure how fit and ready he is but him and Rodgers have worked together so transition should be easier.
CLUNKS on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2025 11:07 PM
Oops. Spoke too soon 🤭
Celtic website confirms he has signed
Kelechi Iheanacho Signs was convinced he was heading somewhere like Turkey, maybe wants to use his time with us to resurrect his career
HH
Well Brendan has got to have been involved in this deal. Not great last season but we can say Kelechi has played at a very good level. Got to hope it works out. Might do if we were to play with more than one player up front and central.
That type of physicality will improve our midfield significantly. They can trust the 1-2s , run in behind and wingers can feed him. We have a couple weeks to get him sharp. I’m happy with this given his experience pedigree and age.
Good.
We’ve got our group.
The strikers in order of impact
(across match days and among the group)
1. Daizen
2. Kelechi
3= Shin / Johnny
5. Callum
Let’s put the self pity to bed, remember that previous successful Celtic teams overcame far, far tougher challenges than this …
… and get to work.
Goodnight CQN.
Another late announcement 🙄
I’ve zero expectations for Kelechi Iheanacho.
French Eddie was probably a better bet.
But this is where we are.
A few recent appraisals of our new signing’s career of late:
https://newtelegraphng.com/what-happened-to-iheanacho-the-decline-of-a-once-rising-star/
https://brila.net/sevilla-director-admits-mistake-in-signing-kelechi-iheanacho/
And BR with glowing praise on the Beeb coverage:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cd7y7w300weo
Welcome to Celtic FC Kelechi; I really hope you work out – for all our sakes!
Went to struggling Seville and boro clubs. Will be different at Celtic since he’s always involved in the play and build up. Rodgers will remind him of his talents and value. I hope , I wish. He’s still young!
STEBHOY – Like you, I’m hoping BR’s paternal arm around his shooders can reignite the spark.
Paul will now prob write a damning article about how this if ‘off piste’ in terms of the vaunted ‘strategy’.
French eddy already blew it the last time he was here
He downed tools quicker than a khun in a como….