The three deadlines

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There are three transfer deadlines Celtic and Hearts have to contend with this week: today, when the window closes in the five richest leagues, tomorrow at 11pm, when players need to be registered for European competition, and Thursday at 5pm, when the Scottish window closes.  Smaller countries where the window closes later, can enjoy a few hours trade without being out-muscled by tiny (but comparatively rich) clubs.

So who are we up for?  Dutch 19-year-old Joël van den Berg and Dane, Oliver Sørensen (24) arrived in Glasgow yesterday after medicals.  Both are tall, mobile, midfielders and should be able to inject the kind of energy we missed so often over the last year.

Van den Berg arrives from PSV, where he was on the edge of breaking into the team, after the Eindhoven side cantered to the title last term.  Sørensen left Midtjylland a year ago for Parma, where he played throughout the season but did not impress sufficiently for his new club to want to retain him.  As we both know, we either have to be very early, or find someone who has not ticked all the boxes of an English side.  Both are within development potential range, so fit the bill for Celtic.

Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone (33) will also be in town today to provide much needed competition to Viljami Sinisalo.  Vil has started the season strongly (an indication of how porous we have been); I’m unclear which keeper Martin O’Neill will prefer.  Johnstone played 12 EPL games last season but lost his place in December in a side which was by some margin the weakest in the league.

Cover is needed for other areas, mostly notably left back, where we currently have Kieran Tierney and a redeployed Liam Scales.  The intensity of the season picks up from the middle of this month.  It is not enough simply to be better than everyone else domestically, we need our backups to be able to complete too.

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  3. possibly other things too

     

     

    Mostly other things

     

     

    Am sire MN didnt time his signings just so you could say

     

     

    “why were all those players not signed in july”

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  6. Good Morning Fholk – Grand Day To Be A Tim…

     

     

    An Tearmann @ 11:53 am,

     

     

    Thanks for the reasoned intervention – hope all’s good with you…

     

     

    Bit of a flurry on the player trading front, not unexpectedly…

     

     

    Welcome: Oliver Sorensen, looks liks an Arne replacement – good signing…

     

     

    Bye to: Reo and Johnny, good luck in pastures new…

     

     

    Games coming thick and fast now…

     

     

    Celtic 3 – 0 Aberdeen

     

     

    COYBIG

     

     

    Hail Hail

  7. Good Morning CQN

     

     

    Welcome to paradise those players who have signed on the dotted line and those who will put pen to paper today

     

     

    This overhaul of the squad was long overdue, the squad was requiring fresh faces and hopefully in many instances upgrading, time will tell, I personally won’t fully judge this window until Christmas, by then those who have had opportunities should have settled to their surroundings and got their fitness levels sorted

     

     

    Goodbye Reo a very talented player some memorable passages of play from the wee magician and yet……………Goodbye Johnny he was wholehearted gave it his best shot, if you could merge the two players what a hell of a player you would get

     

     

    Interesting comments from Shaun in the Presser (clearly the Gaffer had his fill) around the work he and the other coaching staff have done on profiling players to enhance the squad they knew Arne and Daizen for the off

     

     

    MO’N is working closely with the CEO and the CFO in securing players that are matching the profiles that the football staff feel are needed, it is a very welcome improvement in Celtics Transfer business, IMO much improvement is still required in this area of a structured recruitment set up

     

     

    Hassan, Hogh, Duran and Shim Mheuka that could be a devastating forward line any 3 from 4

     

     

    Match day tonight at Celtic Park where the support is real, where it is most needed COYBIG

  8. TET

     

     

    No problem re ignoring.

     

     

    You know that the reality is that there is zero evidence for any club from a lesser league where there is no domestic competition or tv revenue succeeding in sustainably achieving CL success. Simple.

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  10. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Good morning CQN

     

     

    Game day is always a fine day to be a Celt.

     

     

    I have medium-high hopes the playing squad will be rounded off today.

     

     

    Torino signed 2 midfielders this week. Make of that what you will.

     

     

    Good luck and a big thank you to Johnny and, in particular, Reo.

     

     

    Hatate gave us 4½ good years.

     

     

    Shame he didn’t get a bit of a send off.

     

     

    Best of luck to both lads.

     

     

    Reo will have some familiarity tonight when his Burnley take on Middlesborough.

     

     

    Boro have taken Barron on loan at the (literally) 11th hour last night.

     

     

    Presumably, they raced ahead of the host of “interested” European clubs who wanted the talent free chap permanently.

     

     

    Either that or …

     

     

    … the previous reports were complete and utter bollocks

     

     

    … made up on the spot by an unprincipled, talentless slob

     

     

    … for easy consumption by morons.

     

     

    I wonder which it could be?

     

     

    🤔🤔🤔

     

     

    Hope all in the Celtic family have a good one

  11. So although transfer window is closed in England, we can still buy/loan players until Thursday, including from England. But we need to sign them by this evening if they are to be in the EL Squad.

     

     

    So the Chelsea LB, Emenalo, needs confirmation today. Maybe a RB and maybe the Torino midfielder to finish things off. No CHs on the radar as per SM’s press conference yesterday.

  12. The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on

    Hatate’s departure is bitter sweet – I’m sorry to see him go but glad to see him go.

     

     

    He was absolutely sensational for a period then fell off a cliff.

     

     

    I wonder what changed?

     

     

    That was a lengthy list you put up last night, B78. I didn’t appreciate the magnitude of change until I saw it written down.

     

     

    It just shows you what’s possible when those responsible for these things are pulling in the same direction.

     

     

    Hopefully onward and upward.

  13. bournesouprecipe on

    His name was Reo he was a show man,

     

     

    Tremendous signing for Celtic burst onto the scene from well east of the east end, a derby goal or two not to be forgotten. Injury and inconsistency soon marred his progress and like Kyogo and Maeda Celtic tied them down with long contracts, to preserve future stock value. Reo fought back from kicks in the SPL and peaked in Scotland.

     

     

    Rennes, Ipswich and Burnley with respect the only way is down, after Celtic, farewell sweet prince.

     

     

    The end of an era.

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  16. Reo made his debut for us on Jan 17th2022 with a MOTM performance against Hibs. The following week he scored for us in a 2-1 victory at Tyne castle.

     

    The next game was when I thought that we had signed a future legend. February 2nd. Two goals and an assist in the 3-0 hammering of R2ngers. He only scored one more league goal that Season against Ross County.

     

    The following season he got 6 league goals and in 24-25, 10 league goals.

     

    Last season he got 2 league goals but also scored 3 in the EL.

     

    Think season two was when we saw the absolute best of him before he started to become inconsistent.

  17. Still can’t fathom why Ferry doesn’t accept the challenge to work to dislodge oor Kieran (if its true he insists on being a first pick).

     

     

    Equally puzzled as to why we do Chelski’s yoof development blooding for them – rather than our own prospects.

     

     

    Anyhoo, today should be engrossing as we see the final tranche of ins and oots.

  18. the fact that we are willing to have have a first choice LB who will only ever play 60-70 mins for as long as hes under contract is incredible

  19. glendalystonsils on

    spikeysauldman on 2nd September 2026 8:34 am

     

     

    probably made of cheaper material and over half the stock you can only get on loan -)))

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  21. Henry Winter@henrywinter

     

     

    As huge deals fly through the open transfer window, spare a thought for those unsung heroes at grass-roots clubs, academies and often clubs down the pyramid who did such important early development work in nurturing these stars.

     

    Fair, proportionate and consistently-applied financial sustainability regulations are needed in football’s spendthrift world. But any regulation that actively encourages clubs (and tempts owners) to sell young talent needs a rethink.

     

     

    Its very difficult to bring through your own clubs talents when the very best are taken away by clubs in the richest league in the world, Celtic have to operate in a hugely unfair transfer system

     

     

    Henry Winter is correct the rules around youth transfers are requiring attention

     

     

    I will cut Celtic some slack on loan deals, the Chelsea youngster looks a terrific prospect

  22. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 – 𝙇𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙨 𝘾𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚 – 𝘾𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝘽

     

     

    Celtic B striker Lewis Clearie is having a terrific start to the 2026/27 campaign.

     

     

    The 17 year old has bagged 13 goals in 10

     

    Games for our B side & assisted a further 3.

     

     

    That’s a goal or assist every 53 minutes 👏🏼

  23. bournesouprecipe on

    Celtic rejected 500K for Johnny Kenny early last summer and gave him a new 3 year deal. Good work done there, after his loan spell at Bolton we seem to have received much more from Preston for his signature.

     

     

    Farewell my darling Johnny 🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮

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