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Gary Penrice and Celtic’s British recruitment tactics

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Victor Wanyama has advised today that he has ‘unfinished business’ at Celtic. The ex-Celt was consistently linked with a return over both the summer and January transfer windows, however the financial double whammy of Wanyama’s wage and Daniel Levy’s astronomical loan fee demands meant there was just no way it would get over the line.

Now the news Nick Hammond is bringing in Gary Penrice as his new head of recruitment, it is clear the signings of players as well established and high earning as Victor Wanyama look a thing of the past.

Alongside Penrice, formerly with Everton, Leicester, Stoke, QPR and Wigan, Hammond has also brought in analyst Jay Lefevre from Arsenal as head of scouting operations, while Mick Doherty, formerly of Everton and Chelsea, was already in place as senior international and UK scout. It’s looking like last summer’s project signings will be Celtic’s signing policy going forward. The experience of all those involved in English football, points to a concerted attack on the southern markets.

With such uncertainty around the UK’s leaving of the European Union and travel restrictions across the continent it may well be a sensible approach for this season in particular.

Celtic may well bring in the odd experienced campaigner when required, as we saw with the signing of Christopher Jullien from Toulouse, but reading between the lines it’s likely an experienced head or two will only complement the youngsters’ Celtic try and target from the English academy system.

This is an area where Celtic can take advantage of the cross border compensation anomaly that means Celtic have to pay less compensation to English clubs than their English counterparts do.

Last season Jeremie Frimpong from Manchester City was an overwhelming success while the likes of Luca Connell (Bolton), Jonathan Afolabi (Southampton) and Lee O’ Connor (Manchester United) will be looking to make a breakthrough this season.

Celtic have also been linked with a trio of Everton academy players today according to a report in The Athletic – Anthony Gordon, Morgan Feeney and Lewis Gibson – with Celtic scouts being attributed as regular attendees at Everton’s under-18s and under-23s games.

Gordon was a player Celtic were linked with in January, however Carlo Ancelotti personally stepped in to pull back from the deal, as new to the Everton job, the Italian wanted to assess the player personally. It may now something Celtic can revisit.

The English market if it is to be exploited at a more senior level, it may well be through the loan market. There are plenty of top class players unable to stake a claim in bloated English rosters and as English teams finalise their squads, those on the periphery can be picked up, as long as we know where they are.

Both Fraser Forster and Moi Elyounoussi came through that very route and there is a sound premise for continuing that tack for next season. The experience of Hammond’s English scouts may well mean Celtic can gain an advantage.

Celtic have already signed Ismaila Soro from Israeli football and Patryck Klimala from Poland and it looks like that project approach is spreading beyond the confines of the British game. It is however clear the majority of the scouting work is being done in the UK and at the more youthful end of the English market.

It’s an area where Celtic will not only find they can compete financially but can also sell a pathway of first team football by simply pointing to the success of Frimpong, Edouard and previously Moussa Dembele. Whereby young English players at their current clubs can see their path to first team football blocked by a succession of highly paid foreign stars.

Nick Hammond clearly inherited a rather threadbare recruitment department following the ill-fated Lee Congerton debacle, it’s refreshing to see with recent additions to the scouting team, that there is a rebuild going on and one that seems to have a solid tactical approach behind it.

Wanyama’s claims of unfinished business may well sadly remain just that. But it should be remembered the Kenyan started off as a young project signing himself. Neil Lennon polished him into a top European footballer.

It looks like Nick Hammond and his expanding recruitment team is intending to line up a few more for Lenny to add the sheen to. This time from a little closer to home.

Niall J

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As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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