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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weebobbycollins
You’re one of the few that has got behind the big Dane.
Think we are seeing progress albeit with limited game time.
Not talking Virgil here, but pretty good in the air and timing his tackles better….
Got to be some SPL games where he can get a start….
Both him and Donovan played in Stuttgart earlier this year…
Enjoyed the result and some of our play was excellent.
Couple of points:
Duran showed the rest of the team how to take the ball off the opposition.
And,
SM had 19 shots (6 on target).
In 8 games, we have faced 130 shots, 30 of them on target.
I don’t have figures to compare from last season but, that’s too many.
It could be our undoing.
We need to fix this but, without defensively capable players, everyone will fancy their chances.
celtic40me
I gave up on Yang when he got sent off @ Tynecastle…..
Cant have players getting us down to 10 men for no good reason
Couple of years in the DMZ will do him the world o’ good
Bit o’ discipline’s what’s needed
I thought in his first couple of seasons, Yang’s best performances came as a sub. When he started games he did not contribute a great deal. That changed last season when he started to become much more consistent. I said last night that he appears much fitter this season. By that I mean he is stronger, faster and is also doing a lot more defensive duties than he previously did. He is also hungry for goals. The amount of times in recent games where he has outmuscled opposition players has been a revelation. He is going to play a lot of football this season even when Jota returns. Between the two of them we will have a terrific left side.
As Celtic40me pointed out, developing our own players is always the best option but doesn’t happen too often. But for a disastrous transfer window last summer, he would currently be showing Birmingham fans how good a player he is.
(As an aside, I did wonder a couple of weeks back if Yang’s big improvement may have something to do with the upcoming Asian Games and him wanting to be at his absolute best for South Korea.)
Celtic Mac…
There’s not much better than seeing your own coming through the ranks and making a success of it. It was the norm at Celtic once upon a time. So yes, I’m gambling my limited reputation on big Dane doing the business, and doing it this season, because I think Trusty is vulnerable.
Last night, Trusty again showed that he’s a wimp.
For a guy his size, he was easily bullied by a forward of limited ability. Scales wasn’t much better in that respect.
Re Var.
What are the differences in var ?
Scotland to uefa /epl (it showing shaded area)
Cost?
Technology?
What system (sco or uefa/epl) is more definitive? (In showing offside-y/n)
What system limits human error? ie the decision via image is obvious?
I am unhappy we got 2 goals disallowed,and the tech(,var) is inconclusive.
That to me is an admission of failure.
HH
CELTIC MAC on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:04 PM
celtic40me
I gave up on Yang when he got sent off @ Tynecastle…..
He must have wondered what game he was playing. Get kicked all over the park and then get a red card for that. Hasn’t happened since though
VALE BHOY on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:04 PM
Duran showed the rest of the team how to take the ball off the opposition.
Yang does this better than anyone in the team now Daizen has left. There was one bit last night when he tackled the player on the ground and managed to back heel it to one of ours while not looking at him.
I must say, I think Craig McLeish’s St Mirren are a vast improvement over Stephen Robinson’s version. They were a much more positive team, good movement and attitude. I hope they perform as well, or even better at Ibrox midweek.
VALE BHOY on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:04 PM
We need to fix this but, without defensively capable players, everyone will fancy their chances.
Just my opinion but we need to get our heads around the possibility that Martin and Shaun aren’t interested in fixing it and we’ll be playing like this all season. We seem to be fully committed to it in a way we haven’t seen since Ange. All out attack all game, a really high press, very high full backs and a high defensive line with centre backs who need to deal with counter attacks.
LASK was an abomination and we’ll probably be on the end of some beatings from good teams but it’s difficult to argue against it domestically so far. We’ll comfortably outscore everyone in almost every game.
weebobbycollins
Lot to do with coaching too, and here’s the thing, about getting the best out of our players, or any player.
Tactics too…as others have pointed out….ours can leave the defence exposed at times, or on the back foot
3 in the middle doesn’t always work back the way
I will say again, with a much improved front three, we don’t need two fullbacks camped in the opposition’s half. There were a few times last night when we were building from the back I was looking across the field and couldn’t see Scales he was so far forward. A quick counter and we have only Trusty and CCV in position.
Celtic Mac…I agree. There were moments last night that reminded me of Linz – we were so fragile, giving possession up so easily, although we will mostly get away with it domestically. We can be overrun with a midfield three who are intent on attacking, however, we do have greater firepower than any other team in the league and if Hassan can be coached to be more decisive in his play and he starts to assist and score we will always outscore the opposition, especially with the exciting young Mheuka up front. What a talent. It was good to see the team rush to congratulate him when it seemed he had his first goal for the club. He is obviously well liked and that probably is a consequence of his attitude in training.
DENIABHOY on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:51 PM
I think we need to get used to that, it’s how we play at the moment. Calmac said as much after the game.
“we’re a team that want to go forward and score goals so sometimes the game ends up a little bit transitional and you have to rely on the big guys at the back to bail you out sometimes.”
Some good news for The Huns at last this morning, Shankland went for his scan and its a boy!
Half an hour since Shankland`s scan was completed.
DENIABHOY on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:51 PM
I will say again, with a much improved front three, we don’t need two fullbacks camped in the opposition’s half. There were a few times last night when we were building from the back I was looking across the field and couldn’t see Scales he was so far forward. A quick counter and we have only Trusty and CCV in position.
—-
We’ll get away with it in Scotland if we take our own chances.
As we seen against LASK, doing it in Europe is unbelievably stupid.
HotSmoked
Are they scanning to see if he has a brain cell
A press for me, is an attack and midfield acting in unison, closing down the ball player and his passing options – all done simultaneously.
Coached well, it’s a deadly weapon.
That’s not what we do now. Our press has disappeared. We now see individuals charge down opposing players but there’s no co-ordination and more often than not, we get broke on.
celtic40me on 6th September 2026 11:45 am
You have made some really good points in your comments today.
My view of MON is that he puts focus on what we do when we have the ball. It was always that way. It worked fine when we had Larsson, Sutton and Hartson to hold the ball up until the wing backs joined the fray, and relying on 3 physical CB’s.
I don’t think that there is much focus on what happens when we don’t have the ball.
As such, when we criticize our midfield players, it is the structure that needs looking at, not necessarily the midfield players individually.
When we were getting rag-dolled by LASK, we had no idea how to deal with their possession. Likewise, when teams like St Mirren get the ball and flood the midfield, we struggle. Nygren is more of an inside forward than a midfield lynchpin, leaving the hard work to Calmac and Bauer.
I’m not sure that MON is for changing.
Cheers,
Weeron.
AN DÚN on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 2:01 PM
New players, a new system. How about you give it a bit of time before writing it off?
DeniaBhoy on 6th September 2026 12:51 pm
I will say again, with a much improved front three, we don’t need two fullbacks camped in the opposition’s half. There were a few times last night when we were building from the back I was looking across the field and couldn’t see Scales he was so far forward. A quick counter and we have only Trusty and CCV in position.
*The Big Mhan played 424 which quickly became on occasions 334, however he warned his full backs that only 1 of them could go forward, of course both our pairing at the time defied it in the heat of Lisbon, in fact big Cairney admitted to a bit of trepidation when big Tam scored, but the end justified the means.
CELTIC40ME on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 2:22 PM
AN DÚN on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 2:01 PM
New players, a new system. How about you give it a bit of time before writing it off?
—
You’re the one saying what we’re seeing is the outwork of design.
If the plan is no press, no game control and exposed CBs, I’ll admit to being concerned. I don’t need time to know what’s gonna happen against better opponents if this is our system.
I don’t think we need the highest paid manager and coaching staff in Scotland to outscore our domestic opponents. We need to see more. We need to see progress in the Europa.
So yes, let’s give it some time and see how things progress. I hope what we’re currently seeing is teething problems as opposed to design.
AN DÚN on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 2:36 PM
“You’re the one saying what we’re seeing is the outwork of design.”
What does that mean?
You’ve said that a well coached high press is a deadly weapon 5 minutes after saying the same tactics are unbelievably stupid. You’re not making any sense.
It’s a new system for the players, different from the tactics we had last season. We have 4 new players in our front six, coming to a club with totally different challenges to their previous ones.
It’s not amateur GAA, it’s serious stuff and it takes time.
I suspect that our press will never be a deadly weapon because of the sort of players Celtic can attract in the real world. At Celtic life is a series of compromises. Duran is a steal, the sort of player who buy once in a while, but Hassan looks like the defensive side of the job doesn’t come easy. Høgh isn’t the most mobile, Jota isn’t the best at pressing. I dont think you can coach those players into a deadly pressing unit but if we can get them into something effective the offensive parts of their game can more than compensate
The man you made a lot of noise about this time last year, Tounekti, looks like he’s pretty much uncoachable when ti comes to the defensive side of football. Its pretty unfair to dig the coaches up for not being able to coach your favourite into a deadly weapon.
AN DÚN on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 2:49 PM
If the plan is no press, no game control and exposed CBs, I’ll admit to being concerned.
It isn’t, the press is a central part of the plan, so rest easy.
THE RETURNOF WEERON on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 2:07 PM
When we were getting rag-dolled by LASK, we had no idea how to deal with their possession.
I think, hope that as that was pretty early on in the process and that we’ll not see anything that bad again. I dont doubt that we’ll get some bad results but helpfully it won’t be as bad as that. It’s down to the coaches and management to make sure they and everybody learns from it, but that doesn’t mean you abandon it at the first failure, no matter how spectacular.
It’s a pretty radical change from last season and you wouldn’t expect it to work perfectly instantly, whether it can ever work remains to be seen. I hope that LASK won’t have killed it before it has had a chance, I can understand why everyone would be very wary of such high risk tactics though, after watching it fail so badly in such an important game its a hard sell right now.
What you can’t argue against is that we needed something very different from last season. More of the same wouldnt cut it. I’d rather a season with similar aims to Ange’s time than have to deal with that again. Although other alternatives are available of course
Good 3 pts with an OK performance – certainly room for improvement especially mid to back.
Haven’t had a read back but looking at the VAR stuff from last night and raises more questions than answers. First one Sky images seem to show Durrant was ON albeit very close and lo and behold VAR manages to freeze the frame to look like he is OFF. I have no issue if you show the image of Yangs contact with the ball but they couldn’t and they didn’t? The ball was not visible from the image so how do we know at what point there was contact? Very inconclusive………
As for the 2nd one he did look off but again they couldn’t show it so surely the on field decision stands? Interesting to see how these are dealt by WC at his monthly review.
One thing is for sure and that’s the media will have very little to say about these issues however had Saints been on the end of these decisions against us can you imagine the furious debate?
If I am not mistaken Willie Collum’s KPI review panel was abandoned last month.
Or are folks on here referring to some other kind of review?
Celtic Mac on 6th September 2026 4:04 pm
Yes, the KPI panel has been axed.
Willie Collum’s show is still a thing as far as I know.
In my view, the KPI panel was useless.
Weeron
The returnof weeron on 6th September 2026 4:19 pm
You’re correct, the Willie show still reports per month. That nonsense of a KPI panel has been binned, no one knew its composition, could have had Kris Boyd on it 🫣
Dundee still 1 up at Tynecastle after an hour.
the return of weeron
From last nights performance it looks to me that the SFA referees are keeping the show on the road……
Maybe Hearts have something about them again this season.
That said they have Euro matches to contend with this time around…..different scenario
2-1 them
I think the Hibs manager may be out the door soon.
Didn’t see any of the Hearts game but I know what the narrative would be if we ha been trailing 0-1 with 10 mins to go and the following happened. VAR tells ref a handball and penalty in 84 th minute. VAR tells ref about a foul and red card to Dundee 91st minute. Hearts score winner 96th minute.
Some Hearts mates referred to that kind of added time as “play on to Celtic score time”.
Some Hearts mates referred to that kind of added time as “play on to Celtic score time”.
Lol, DeniaBhoy.
My experience of Hearts fans?
They dislike R2ngers a bit.
They despise Celtic much more.
They may wish to take a look at this below.
14 MINUTES at the end of the second half.
By Ryan Lee.
Unprecedented amount of added time in my lifetime.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c4g2d505g24t#LiveReporting