From what I see in photographs, Christopher Jullien, who completed his transfer to Celtic this morning, is 8’6”, chiselled, and already filling the Celtic Park tunnel. We needed at least one central defender, so I am delighted he is in so early in the transfer window.
Second observation (after his stature): he is not a ‘project’, or at least, he’s an older and more expensive project than we normally buy. We will continue to sign players for less than €8m, but there is also value in this space. If this is the new norm, it is where we should be aiming.
Christopher will join Kristofer as our top central defender pairing, but we lost Boyata and Benkovic, so there remains a gap in the squad – perhaps one for a more traditional looking ‘project’.
The shadow of Daniel Prodan lingers in Scottish football. Prodan was a £2.2m Rangers signing in 1998, but whatever was done at his medical, a knee injury was not diagnosed. The player never played a game for the club, which was so chastened, it passed up the chance to sing John Hartson a year later. Hartson had a perfectly good knee, which had recovered from an earlier operation. Hartson went on to do well elsewhere, including against Rangers, who, having bought Prodan, lost Hartson, then punished by Hartson, were cursed by a unique treble.
Two years ago Celtic signed South African central defender, Rivaldo Cotzee, subject to a medical, which he failed, due to a knee injury. The player has played only a dozen games since, all in South Africa.
What do we know about knee injuries? Sometimes they get better, sometimes they don’t. David Turnbull must now wait for the outcome of an operation next week, which will determine his future in the game. Let’s hope he makes a full recovery; he was certainly a player I looked forward to seeing at Celtic.
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First
And we’re off
In this year when we lost Billy, may Jullien become our new Caesar.
Welcome big Jullien . Turnbull with two good knees may well be joining you in January.
Quite impressed by the speed of this deal. First reported in France on 12/6 and picked up by celtic social media crowd and Scottish press and deal done all in two weeks . Nice one.
Paul
I thought Cotzee had a foot injury ? Not knee
I thought it was bizarre that Tam McManus was on twitter telling everybody it will be 12 weeks for Turnbull pre-operation.
Anyway, delighted to have signed Julien. Doesn’t look like anybody else will join for a couple weeks yet. A bit of a concern for RB.
Anyway, will be interesting to see where this leaves Jozo. We are right in the window of either offering a new deal or trying to sell. I hope its the former.
More good news!
Contacted Celtic yesterday re. the farcical plan for a parking embargo within 1 mile of Celtic Park next season and asked for an update on what is happening. Very efficiently I received the following reply almost by return:
“The parking embargo will not be in place for the start of next season. There is no further update on when/if it will be in place.”
Has the idiot who came up with this in the first place been sent back to his/her village?
Good signing of intent in the rebuilding of our defence. Hopefully a quality right back to follow. Well done Celtic.
Personally I would prefer he was partnering Jozo, as Ajer has a lot to learn. Like using his left foot
8’6″? Should be good at set pieces and hopefully a good touch for a big man.
Why would the huns sing John Hartson : ) ?. Unless its followed by the usual bile !!
I have no idea if Julienne is a great signing or not.
The size of his fee does not indicate that he is a guaranteed starter anymore than the much smaller fee we paid for Ajer had him marked down as someone unlikely to make it.
I am glad that we have another defensive body in; I suspect that the first Sarajevo tie may be too early for him and many of our returning international players but it is more cover for the rigours ahead. Everyone recognises that we still need more and whether those players cost £1 or £7m, they should be evaluated on how they do for us not how much we spent on them.
Julienne’s reviews are mixed- a promising youngster developing nicely then suddenly he and his team mates have a terrible season and he looks bombscare-ish. I hope a season strolling through the SPFL will restore his swagger and confidence but he will need an immediate return of resilience for our European games.
Two 6 foot 5 defenders does offer us greater aerial strength but, like Ajer, he is likely to be slower on the turn; it is a well known phenomenon in Basketball and Volleyball, after all, but, once they turn they have long strides and long levers to help them recover.
Look for other managers testing them with small nippy players like Brophy.
I hope we land a few more to add to our defensive strength in the coming weeks. I expect, that, as usual, some of our top targets will not confirm until they see what kind of CL showcase we can provide, if any.
Win our first 3 rounds and a good European player might be tempted to come and, like Julienne, use us as a stepping stone to bigger fortunes, with a wee bit of glory thrown in along the way.
That remains our place in the pecking order.
MON sacked by Nottingham Forrest after a dressing room revolt
Herr Dassler
any thoughts on the addidas talk ?
I think i remember Paul saying last year France was a market we were lookin at so hopefully we can get Peraud over the line as well
Stephannebonnescsc
Certainly looks the part and I like my defenders big and powerful.
So does Lenny who has clearly been supported by the board.
Well done all.
Welcome to Celtic CJ
Hail Hail ??
Bienvenue indeed Christopher!!
Some tinternet stuff I read on the new guy said the best combined aerial ball winning and goalscoring CB in Ligue Un, although vulnerable to some switch-offs.
Looks like we’re bulking up given the agricultural competition styles and refereeing leeway hell bent on stalling quest for 9 and 10. HH
Timaloy29
I agree with you re : Jozo
Need him tied on a longer deal. For me, he was our best player during Lenny’s interim reign.
People automatically assume Jullien and Ajer will be the partnership.
As much as I rate Ajer highly, and think he is future captain material, of our 3 centre halfs, he is the least experienced, and sometimes that shows. Think he has much more to learn as a defender.
And who’s to say, Jozo and Jullien aren’t the partnership that Lennon gives the nod to.
If we sign Peraud and Bolo… the signs would be K.T to Arsenal being a formality.
It will be interesting how this window develops.
KT going nowhere next Celtic skipper HH HH
A wee bit of background re Prodan,my ex used to work with Prof Stuart Hillis,who was Scotland and Oldco team doctor ,a gent of a man.He got the call to go Ibrox for a medical, it was Prodan.His previous medical history was there,but it was in Spanish, as he was coming from La Liga,and another was in his native Romanian.He refused to put his name to anything to do with the player,Murray went mad at him, but he stuck to his guns and signed nothing, but Oldco signed him.He had zero time for Murray after that,and i think he resigned a while after this.
FB67- NL in his interview did little to discourage bids for KT,i think he will go unfortunately….
RUGGYGMAN on 28TH JUNE 2019 1:48 PM
If we sign Peraud and Bolo… the signs would be K.T to Arsenal being a formality.
___
Disagree with you there. The club only have one senior left back available. Peraud would likely compete for the spot with KT for a season.
KT has 4 years left on his deal. Arsenal would need to make a serious offer to take a marquee player from Celtic. Tierney will at least retain his value for the next two seasons.
People in the know suggest Arsenal would have to offload players before we see them offer big money. So wait and see what happens with Aubemayang, Torreira etc.
Monsieur Jullienne is a big man, reminsicent of the original Bobo.
One source suggested that the sale of his defensive partner, Diop, to West Ham exposed his lack of speed in turning, but we all know that defensive partnerships complement one another – Billy Mc Neill & John Clark a notable example.
Christopher’s partners & coaches at Celtic will work with him to work out how to complement each other.
If he wants it and stays fit, all we can promise him is immortality.
HH
‘Tall, a goal threat, but weak on the turn’ – analysis
France-based football reporter Matt Spiro”
The above is from the BBC article re Celtic signing Jullien.
I honestly do not recall any other player, on the day of his transfer, receiving such a negative description.
A seven million pound transfer could have been used to promote Scottish football…..but not if it means being positive about Celtic
Bloody Biased Corporation.
Celtic knocked back a second KT bid from Arsenal. £17.5 million.
What people forget is Arsenal are miles off with their valuation. It’s hardly imminent.
Try 30.
If there’s one thing that annoys me more than the SMSM trying to sell our best players , it’s the derisory sums they are quoting . £15m and £17m for players who are worth double that .
Then there’s £20m Morelas who is worth 5% of that.
What’s wrong with these people? ( Don’t tell me , I already know).
If Arsenal’s transfer budget is £45m as reported , they’re not going to blow more than half of that on one player . If they sell a few that situation may change of course , but I can see KT either staying or going late in the window .
The only reason KT will go is if we don’t get Champions League football
He is the back-up option to cover the shortfall
Dembele was the same
Lawell more or less said this last year when asked if we are dependent on Champions League income
Welcome to Celtic wee man :-)
Go on and make the centre half position yir own.
Joking aside i like this signin.an area that needed work.well done all,hoping young “tir” Connal comes in too.
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BadaBing 2.08
Murray A skank in an expensive suit.
I hope history ploughs him in contrast to the masonic tenderness his ilk are treated with in this country.
Keep the news comin Bada
HH
Tierney is going nowhere, according to Lennybhoy we are signing Taylor from killie as NL is planning to play KT further forward. And there will be plenty of cover because the Perraud deal is concluded,add to this the deals that have been agreed with Harper,who was to be our first signing, O’Donnell Connell Turnbull whose deals are done and dusted and will be signing this week, or is it next week……I’m hearing we are signing players sometime…
Welcome to Celtic Christopher – you can trust the bbc for an uplifting welcome I’m surprised they haven’t provided a French translation for ‘seen milk turn quicker’
Do your talking on the field young man
Whitedoghunch
es passiert nicht
Aw right ?
SFTB
Where are the mixed reviews shown ?. I dont have access to that type of stuff.
HH
AC Milan accept 1 year ban from UEFA competition for breach of financial fair play regulations
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48801681
There have also been a few reports recently that Manchester City could suffer the same fate due to using sponsorship income to disguise investment from from owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan. They are appealing so probably will not be banned 2019/20
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7165541/Why-City-cusp-thrown-Champions-League.html
Maybe UEFA’s adult teeth have grown in at last.
Adi Dassler
I was referring to the French Press report which described him as being worth £10m on his 2017/18 form but noting that his form last season, when Toulouse were struggling to avoid relegation, showed bombscare-ish tendencies, indecision etc;
He is a mature player. I expect as a Ligue1 hardened player, he will be a better bet than McKenna but, first of all, he will have to improve on last season’s form.
He won’t be the first good player whose form suffered because the team around him was weak. But, as with every Celt, he should be judged on how he does with us, not with his previous club.
He is a very welcome addition to our squad but our jury should remain out on his worth to us until it is proven and earned.
It is not the size of the transfer fee that determines the ability to fill a Celtic shirt. compare Scheidt and Larsson
Hrvatski
zdravo prijatelju
It would be nice to think that UEFA have finally grown a pair and are now prepared to take on the cheating…. but a few problems….
1. UEFA is, itself, pretty corrupt….so, not likely to take on corruption … if there is any chance that it will come back to bite UEFA on the bum…
2. So, why take on AC? I would view this more as another aspect of the ongoing power struggle between the big clubs and UEFA,
3. After 8 years, I strongly suspect that the reason that Celtic has never said anything about the sham that Scottish football has become (and why it frustrated poor Auldheid ‘s efforts at every turn) is that Celtic’s hands are not nearly as clean as most Celtic fans would like to hope.