The transfer window closed yesterday with Celtic bringing in 10 players in total, six purchased and four season-long loan signings. Positions filled were:
A Goalkeeper
Left and right backs
Three central midfielders
One winger
Three strikers, one of whom has already played on the wing
Only central defence was not added to. Maik Nawrocki, who was out on loan last term, got a great move to Lens, although he suffered an ACL injury this week. This leaves us with four central defenders, which sounds light, although to be fair, five sounds too many to keep happy (ask Maik).
We have a glut of players who will compete for the No. 8 role: Mika Baur, Oliver Sorensen, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Luke McCowan, although some can fill other roles, including the No. 6. This position, occupied by Callum McGregor since the departure of Scott Brown five years ago, is the strategic gap I am sure the club are keen to fill.
For several seasons, Callum played more football than anyone else in the world game. He is almost always fit and a succession of managers have wanted him on the field whenever possible. Celtic need to bridge two competing demands: Callum to control as much of our game as possible, while giving enough time to bed-in a successor. That job has to start soon.
I could not be happier with the acquisition of Camilo Duran (24) and Kasper Hogh (25). Both in their prime with established Champions League credentials. It’s still early days, but how we managed to acquire Camilo for less than £5m is incredible. I get Kyogo-type vibes from him. Kasper gives us a dimension to our play that’s been missing for some time. What Martin does tactically when everyone is fit, will be interesting.
When early in the summer Martin talked about wanting Kelechi Iheanacho back at the club I was in despair. Kelechi’s cameos were crucial for us last season, but he offered no development and no up-surprises; the opposite of a coherent strategy. The embarrassment of then failing to land a player we had just allowed an option to expire on, gave a shambolic impression. Fortunately, that was not the whole picture.
I watched Argentina-Egypt at the World Cup with disappointment as I was sure Haissem Hassan’s outstanding display would take him beyond our reach. On the game’s highest stage and against the finalists, he stole the show. He is the most direct winger we have had in years (which will not always work for him). Fans of all colours are frustrated when wingers recycle the ball and the attacking team reverts to a horseshoe of doom. You will not seem much of that from Haissem, he will commit defenders more than anyone in Scottish football; watch them double-up on him.
Tactically it might not fit, but a line-up with Hassan on one wing, Jota on the other, with Hogh in front and Duran just off him would be interesting.
The central mid position looks to be where we have been most strategic. Sorensen (24) is the oldest and most experienced recruit. Baur is 22 and still has scope to develop. Joel van den Berg’s exclusion from the European squad indicates his limited game-time thus far. He is 19, away from home for the first time and will learn his trade in the Scottish Premiership.
Kieran Tierney needs a deputy and we need Liam Scales to be playing in central defence, so the addition of loanee Landon Emenalo (18) is certainly required. He’s young and like Joel, needs to be deployed carefully. One of Jordan Lotomba’s main assets is that he can play left back, as well as his more regular right back role. Liam will hopefully be fourth choice left back now and will remain in the middle.
Sam Johnstone (33) collected a runners-up medal with England at the Euros two years ago. After a traumatic season with Wolves, when they were cannon fodder in the EPL, Celtic offer the goalkeeper a chance to reset. It’s not clear if he will replace Viljami Sinisalo, I suspect Martin has an open mind of the subject right now.
Out went our beloved Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, together, key architects of Celtic’s current five-in-a-row run. They leave having given us lifetime memories and our eternal thanks. Arne Engels brought in £22m. This surprised many, but he is still only 22 and like Mika, has plenty of road ahead. We got £3m for Johnny Kenny (23). I predict he will move gain for double this price. Honourable mention too for Stephen Welsh, especially for that last minute equaliser for 10-man Motherwell on a Wednesday night in February.
A couple of points on transfer business. Sales brought in a reported £46m, while we spent £30m (plus unreported loan fees). These figures do not and should not equate. Total spend over a business cycle should equate to total earnings. A healthy model for clubs like Celtic is to earn from transfers to spend on wages. You do not need to look too far away to learn what happens when clubs our size are net spenders.
Also, we lost the Champions League qualifier, which was a failure on the club. It was not because “we did not sign players before then”, as I heard repeatedly on the radio on my way to the game on Wednesday. Signing players before these games, then signing players after them, is good.
Did we do enough to win the title again? We’ll see. As we discussed above, it is early days, but if feels like the best window we have had since Ange was doing his thing. It is coherent and aligned to a strategy I recognise.
Newco ran us close last season and, like a half-arsed parent over-compensating for a lack of love by buying the kids expensive gadgets, out-spent us. I am not convinced by their work, but money has been deployed and we must recognise the threat.
Hearts are a latent worry. They upgraded their coach and will continue to challenge. Their win at Hibs last night is a portent of how well-prepared they are. More immediately, St Mirren also have a better manager than they had a year ago and host a top-of-the-table clash against Celtic tomorrow. It already feels like a significant game.
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HH
Friday again, where do the days go?
Don’t forget Motherwell who look like they will again be capable of taking points off everyone on any given day. Playing some very tidy football as per last season and held onto their better players.
Afternoon, all.
I read somewhere that Oliver Sorensen was used by Parma as a holding midfielder No 6 and not a No 8.
Was therefore surprised when he came on and played as a attacking midfielder. I was expecting him to take Calmacs position with him moving forward!
It was quiet on the blog this morning which I take a sign that most folk are content with the week’s business and the forward outlook.
Josh Mulligan from Hibs forget about him ,last season i read a article about him,he is most certainely a Sevco Fan,he said in his comments that he would never sign fo Celtic ,is he any good ,well what seen from him last night v Jambos was the last 10 minutes in which he was ok ,other than that he was just average,,
A decent window but lack of preparation for the CL qualifier has been swept under the carpet.
And there is no back-up for KT in the Europa League squad.
From the article “…if feels like the best window we have had since Ange was doing his thing.”
Wholly agree, Paul.
I reckon, now, we have whittled out many passengers and are quite lucky to have so many great players in so many key positions.
It promises to be a very good season for us.
Still no defensive midfielders.
And, we could be playing a midfield of Nygren, Calmac and Sorenson…all left footed and, on Wednesday’s evidence, not defensive minded.
I could be worrying unnecessarily but I’m still concerned about balance and protecting the defence.
79Caps…
As Paul mentioned, Lotomba can play right-back or left-back.
Jota will be like a new sogning😃
Not a bad window, you would have to say. Mahmic would have been a welcome addition – think we might have missed a good one there.
Fortunately we seem to have avoided the bad luck which cripples us after every domestically dominant season when we try to strengthen! Who could possibly have predicted that? Maybe next time (or maybe not!).
Whatever brought about this Damascene conversion, I’m in favour of (important we don’t pretend this transfer window is the norm)
Major concern remaining is our soft centre. We aopear weak right down the centre of our midfield.
Hopefully, we can outscore most opponents
“Newco ran us close last season”
Did they though ? 10 points is close ? they weren’t even close to second place hearts…
By that reckoning Motherwell were a gnats hair of off third …😜😜😜😂
It looks as though once Sorensen was signed on loan there was little genuine effort to sign Gineatis. Indeed, another player would have to have been sacrificed from the Europa League squad.
We got ‘run close’ last season because our standard dropped, hugely, & our board ran a injurious managerial experiment for just over a month where we decided to shed points for fun.
Stop comparing ourselves to Thems or we’ll descend to their level.
I’m quite happy with our transfer window. Especially our forward line.
However I cannot buy into loan signings without an option to buy, especially young players.
I cannot see a positive in this physiology, but I can see many negatives.
How can we become emotionally attached to a player who we k ow will be offski?
We are just developing a player for his patent club to reap the benefits
It is a disincentive for our young players.
There is no longer term planning involved.
I feel loans without an option to buy act as a sticking plaster, more suitable for clubs fighting off relegation for example.
What long term benefit do we get ? Particularly if they are not in our European plans ?
HH.
There was no excuse for signing six players in the last few days of the window, Paul when you look at the profile of the players signed. Ironically the more “job ready” players were all signed July/early August illustrating the lies/stories/blah we get fed at times about windows is just nonsense.
Are we stronger overall? I would say attacking wise we are really strong. The obvious “number 6” issues continue though. Additionally the left back role is not sorted. KT will continue to struggle to play and so if Lotomba is the makeshift solution then fair enough but I can not see the merit in either lad from Chelsea. Van den berg can be coached and developed but MON has already said he will prioritise our own players. Quite right.
I said yesterday it was a 7/10 and that is a good window but a number 6 could be the difference between a nice journey into the latter stages of the EL.
We shall. Plenty to like though I think.
79CAPS,
Agree Acceptance of failure in Europe is in our DNA & Biz model. Zero ambition even in EL to paraphrase the manager — clearly disappointed not mind games.
Tha narrative above is lipstick on a pig to win a Mickey Mouse league. Of course will celebrate the trophies at Hampden & CP — before the same movie starts again like every season back to early 2000s.
It’s criminal a PLC does not have the ambition to be the best version of themselves. It also has in place execs who have no capability to develop the club.
As for the Board —-systemically neutered by the Corkman. It could be interesting if he was to give Ross a gig —- I would genuinely see it as an improvement on what we have. Then we will see if he has any rebel blood…
I counted 5 loans among the 10 signings?
Has Jordan Lotomba signed permanently?
For those concerned about the lack of a number 6…
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcStZgKWuC_qzBoqrKNfEAarOhw1DDJjTa3cdqamDiICGhUnu5NrVJ7EiC0&s
Sky Sports Scotland@ScotlandSky
🚨 There will be NO away fans at Old Firm matches this season.
IMO The correct decision, Celtic park without the bigot hateful songbook which is somehow tolerated by police Scotland and the SPFL is certainly as far as I am concerned unacceptable to me as a season ticket holder
lionroars67 on 4th September 2026 1:54 pm
Sky Sports Scotland@ScotlandSky
🚨 There will be NO away fans at O** F*** matches this season.
———
Great.
Call their bluff and suggest strict liability to go alongside no away fans.
Our supporters …
… from pitch invaders, tangerine robbers to peerless heinous criminals (©️ SMSM) who celebrate league title wins in their own city …
… are smart enough and astute enough to rein it in when the stakes get raised.
Their morons aren’t.
PS – at the first whiff of trouble on 20 September, they’ll get ready to walk off the park if they are losing.
Have that option up our sleeve next Sunday.
Jock called something similar retaliating first
dont forget, Jota will be back soon too, good news.
What is the latest on Odin Holm does anyone know. I really rated him , tons of dig, something we sadly lack
All in all, not a bad window but being greedy I think we should have bought Aroujo, even though he’s injured currently, just my opinion
KINGLuBo
Why did we wait to be instructed that there would be n9 away fans for the Glasgow Derby.
Like being dragged screaming to a logical decision that we should have taken unilaterally a long time ago.
HH.
Greenpinata, I don’t claim to know the answer but my assumption would be that the club couldn’t come to an agreement with the Hun on numbers for the cup tie. The authorities went down the path of least resistance rather than having a public spat over the reasons for the impasse. I think for the most part both clubs are happy with that. Would be interesting to see what would have happened had the Hun got an away tie instead, but that’s the drink talking.
timmy7_noted on 4th September 2026 2:50 pm
That’s my thought too !
Prestonpans bhoys on 4th September 2026 12:08 pm
I read somewhere that Oliver Sorensen was used by Parma as a holding midfielder No 6 and not a No 8.
Was therefore surprised when he came on and played as a attacking midfielder. I was expecting him to take Calmacs position with him moving forward!
_____
I listened to a couple of Danish commentators talking about Sorensen and they described him as someone who will run all day, with decent pace. Not someone who scores a lot of goals. Just watched the training video there and the guy who was talking described him as having a similar profile to Nygren. Based on what the two local guys had said, that’s definitely not the case. Like most Celtic supporters, I like midfielders who are really good on the ball and keep possession well. We have that in McGregor, Baur and Ox. The two new midfielders will offer something different, which we certainly missed versus LASK. I’ve seen some complain about not getting a DCM, but these two boys might help on that front. I think we’ve signed decent players, albeit late in the day.
Never, ever, huns at Parkhead, never , ever
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 4th September 2026 1:49 pm
I counted 5 loans among the 10 signings?
Has Jordan Lotomba signed permanently?
—-
Five loanees. Sorensen is an option to buy. I’m very optimistic that we will take that option.
MON presser:
https://youtu.be/lHn2FxX0MQg?is=b3FRdLrljho7_9Z-
Why no additional cover in the centre back position, imo trusty is a weak link, no pace or positional sense, happy to play sideways and back passing but don’t ask him to defend, very weak and easily outmuscled.
Delighted that thems are not allowed into Celtic Park this season, hopefully it will carry on for ever.
Duran presser:
https://youtu.be/P2DmE_y5SjE?is=n8Uc46cjczmN9MLp
Back in the day, actually not so long ago, the talk in football by those who wanted to sound like they knew what they were talking about was the ’10’. Do not remember any professional actually using it, tended to be journos and the like. Think Platini was the role model. Incidentally Bobby Murdoch used to play inside left (no.10 in old money, and no.8 too) right before moving back to midfield. Now all the talk is of the ‘6’ forgive me of not taking all this seriously, given that was the number allocated to the left half……..again journo and pundit talk. And here’s the thing, what if we do find this mythical ‘6’…….do we then start start searching for the ‘4’?
And so it goes
” The Battered Bunnet on 4th September 2026 12:14 pm
It was quiet on the blog this morning which I take a sign that most folk are content with the week’s business and the forward outlook.”
Agreed. People are more likely to `make a noise` when they are discontent than when the opposite is the case.
Celtic Mac on 4th September 2026 3:39 pm
Quite amusing but true :-))