Likely summer signing number two, Virgil van Dijk, arrived in Glasgow this morning for a medical after terms were agreed with the player and his club, Groningen. The 6’4” player, who will be 22 next month, is a Dutch under-21 international.
Virgil is two weeks younger than Victor Wanyama and emerged into the Groningen team around the same time Victor pitched up in Glasgow, they have made almost exactly the same number of appearances for their respective clubs, 62 top flight games in total, in the case of Virgil.
62 games is an interesting figure. Enough to bed in, catch local scouts’ eyes and have well-travelled men from Glasgow watch several times before making a recommendation. Not enough to catch the eyes of less well-organised, but no less resourceful, scouts in the bottom half of the English Premier League, who Celtic now seem to compete for talent with.
If Virgil is the real deal, another couple of dozen games might have changed the competition for his signature.
Is there a 50-80 game window which can deliver sufficient evidence of a player’s talent, but not too much evidence, which evaporates the value gap? This hypothesis would be easy to test and if it holds would provide an interesting filter on the hundreds of names pushed to the club each year.
Have you booked for the Lions Roar event at Celtic Park tomorrow night? Last and precious opportunity to watch how the European Cup was won with the men who did the work. In short, priceless. Tickets available here.
Speaking of the men who won it, buy Heart of a Lion here:
[calameo code=0003901713852289beccb lang=en page=10 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
961 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 26
- »
“Auldheid
13:15 on 20 June, 2013
Paul67
I think the formula is (JPx(NL+PL □ go) x 62 )÷CQN.
The latter being an unquantifiable variable depending on whereabouts of KevJungle & Kojo at any point in blog time and space where e=mc□.
No easy to predict……”
Pye in the sky por cierto
Now
Well ghuys and ghals, first stab at the resolution
comments welcome, try and remember we are trying to get our board to protect out interests and only they are accountable to us, asking about the sfa’s interests will only muddy the water.
theres plenty of room for improvement
We the undersigned have concerns we would like addressed by our board being the legal representatives and responsible to protect our interests.
Recent information made public has raised concerns about the integrity of the governance of the market in which we operate, specifically on the qualification and issuance of license to practice.
Serious questions have been raised on the administration of the rules, fundamental to the integrity of the sports governance.
We would like responses to the following questions
1. Have our representatives/board raised any concerns with the sfa on the information recently made public, what was the response ? if not why not
2. Are our representatives/board satisfied with said response ? why
3. Are our representatives/board aware of any irregularities, what steps have you been taken to protect/recover the interests of the minority shareholders?
4. What is the boards strategy to recover earnings lost through governance irregularities which may come to light at a later stage?
5. If there is no strategy to recover lost earnings from the offenders, will the decision makers be compensating the minority shareholders from their own holdings, if not why not ?
6. If the decision makers are considering such compensation how will this be calculated :o)
as I said plenty of room for improvement
We have some real disappointments at left back.
Emilio could do with some competition
A centre half and a striker already secured. Add in a creative midfielder and things will be looking good. I expect at least one of our top players to leave, so that has to be factored in too.
Mind you if we sell Big Vic for £15M and buy four first team starters for £10M – 12M we will still get the negative net spend argument.
A Stor Mo Chroi
13:43
No need to apologise at all, amigo. That was what the discussion was about and I took it off on a hun-skelping Moroccan tagine tangent.
Could we be in for Khalid Boulahrouz ?
Chairbhoy
Just catching up on your comments. I just call it as I see it and always try to be positive about what Celtic are doing.
Onwards and upwards for Celtic. Impressed with the Dutchman. Looks a very good signing.
Just in time for the new strip launch too. Celtic know what they are doing.
LB
Henrik Sombrero,
Khalid Boulahrouz can play left back as well.
should have been ‘have had’
Oldtim
good luck, especially with Waila…if you only have one winner, I hope it’s that one!!!
Henriks Sombrero-Thought he was a good hard defender when he was at Chelsea.
Celtic First @13.49
More power to you
HH
Alive alive oh….non runner
Catman
13:41 on
20 June, 2013
31003
The one I have is more than enough
Ye’ll be glad of that ah’ll bet ye….
LiviBhoy-Looks like more good scouting under the radar of a few Clubs.Takes a few months to develop these transfers i’m sure.I think we are using agents we can trust,and have money to give more cash up front possibly to selling clubs.HH
I believe Virgil was the name of the bodyguard for the million dollar man. is Van Dijk here to protect our youngsters from the hammer throwers?
The boy sounds like the real deal anyway. Hope he is signed up today.
LB
Somewhere in Partick the Legless Loon is propping up a sticky bar waiting for the Media House janny to pop in on his lunch break with instructions from Joke Irvine.
#SOON
WGS – He doesn’t fit the young promising template we have been going for lately, but he certainly fits the bill in terms of experience. He has a hugely impressive CV and would bring stability to our back 4.
Boulahrouz?
Fellow has managed 30 games in a season just 3 times in a 12 year career, last time being 2005-06.
12 games in total for Sporting last season.
Pointless.
So what will be the preferred back four next season.
The central pairing would I imagine be K.Wilson and V.Dijk.
Now given NL likes to accommodate C.Mulgrew in his teams
I would think Izaguirre may be the one to lose out.
For me it would be Mathews – Wilson – Dijk – Izaguirre
Charlie would have to fight it out for a place in midfield with
Joe or take Izaguirres place when injury or suspension come
calling.
!!Bada Bing!!
I agree that our scouting appears to be first class. It also appears that we get a deal done and terms agreed with the club before it goes public. I do get concerned that this tactic can’t last forever and there will become a stage that a club with lazy scouting and more cash than us can gazump our signings with the promise of more readies.
It appears that the club is sold to these Bhoys first though. Look at the comments from Balde. He was like a wee Bhoy at Christmas when he arrived in Glasgow. I think it would have taken something very special for him not to sign on at Celtic. Our CL run last season is still fresh in peoples minds and these guys want to be a part of the next one. Neil Lennon keps a very low profile at these signings which I am quite happy with. I think that means we still have work to do. Hopefully Neil will be paraded with them soon when he feels the bulk of the signing work has been done.
For some reason I think we are on the verge of signing a very special player. One that will excite the fans. A number 10 or could that be a number 7???
The club have been using the number 7 quite a bit this last month promoting the new jersey. Wonder why that is? I just have eternal optimism when it comes to Celtic and put 2=2 together and come up with something totally different. If Celtic sign that special player this summer next season could be that bit more special than last and with the ground filled up it could be a very enjoyable season.
LB
Don’tpatmaddog,
Myabe a new left back as well.
LiviBhoy,
If your hunch is right on the number 7.
Giovanni Dos Santos
Real Mallorca have offered their players at a very reasonable price which have apparently made our club think.
Nice
https://twitter.com/celticfc/status/347702991094165504/photo/1
WGS
14:08 on 20 June, 2013
Would make it more difficult for CM
I don’t think we need a full-back. It will be hard enough to accommodate Emilio, Lustig, Matthews and Mulgrew, all of whom are in the frame to be first-picks.
LiviBhoy-You could be right re No 7.HH
10 Admin staff bagged at Hearts.
WGS
I would hope for someone who can excite the fans.
!!Bada Bing!!
Hope so mate. It is just a rather convenient coincedence for me.
LB
!!Bada Bing!!
14:14 on
20 June, 2013
10 Admin staff bagged at Hearts.
They’ll likely get a job at Hampdump
A Stor Mo Chroi
The blog is different from using social media which good for using images – for example the image of the Hearts fan with the Romanov tattoo is funny and got over 11k people on Facebook laughing. They see the CQN name. CQN’s numbers haven’t dropped which you’d expect with us being in the close season – but we have had the Willie Wallace events, the golf and such things – plus the latest edition of the magazine – so there’s plenty going on on CQN. Social media and the magazine have increased the awareness and the audience for the blog. The Facebook page has been very successful in lots of ways, one being to get new writers for the magazine.
Over the weekend we were able to post as a stand alone feature, an article by Setting Free the Bears which was read by 848 CQNers. None had to click the link to read.
I mentioned Heart of a Lion – Willie couldn’t get a publisher and without this blog and the people on it – his book would never have been published.
WGS,i never saw the football last night,but spoke to my brother today and he says that Dos Santos would be a great signing for us
!!Bada Bing!!
14:14 on
20 June, 2013
10 Admin staff bagged at Hearts.
Feel for those guys. Hope they find employment soon.
LB
I feel sorry for anyone who loses their job in this way. What happened to Hearts wasn’t their fault.
I watch Cowboy Builders most morning and its nothing short of criminal how these beez rip people off but this morning took the biscuit. A couple from Gourock handed one of these gangsters over £71000 and got left with a dangerous mess. But what really got me this couple worked in the planning department of the local council. An independent surveyor couldnt even give the “work” a mark out of ten it was that bad. Some people deserved to get ripped off sometimes imo.
Watched the Brazil – Mexico game last night.
Spain will beat Brazil comfortably.
But I could watch Brazil (Neymar in particular) every
week rather than the monotonous 30 passes to get to the
oppositions 18 yard line that Spain play. Skillful as they are
Spain just put me to sleep.
Have to say also that Brazil have lost something with so many of
their players now plying their trade in Europe. Not as much as the samba
style now.