Callum McGregor sort of echoed Peter Lawwell’s ‘calm doon’ remark outside the St Mirren stadium on Sunday afternoon when the Celtic chairman was confronted by a group of irate Celtic supporters, concerned by the lack of transfer activity as we moved into the closing days of the summer transfer window.
Since then Celtic have increased the pace and there seems to be genuine hope that a number of deals with get across the line before the Friday night deadline. Yesterday Celtic pocketed £26m from the sale of Matt O’Riley to Brighton, and the Celtic support will only be happy if the club re-invest in the market this week to back Brendan Rodgers and give him the quality additions that he has identified.
Alex Valle appeared out of nowhere on the Celtic radar on Sunday evening, with Fabrizio Romano breaking the story that the highly rated Barcelona left-back was heading to Celtic for a season-long loan, there is no option to buy in the deal. The pursuit of Owen Beck at Liverpool is over with the left-back who was on loan at Dundee last season, now scheduled to be going to Blackburn on loan.
Yesterday The Celtic Star reported on Celtic’s interest in Lazio winger Gustav Isaksen, amid internet rumours that Luis Palma could be moved on in this window and Yang could be sent out on loan. Palma did post a rather ominous message on his Instagram account that perhaps set online tongues wagging.
Celtic then lowballed German side Augsburg for midfielder Arne Engels, and while that initial bid was rejected, reports that the player has agreed terms with Celtic and is keen on the move, suggests that the deal will be done barring a late reluctance at Celtic’s end to increase their offer. Remember that Augsburg will be well aware that the £26m deal for Matt O’Riley has gone through!
Gustaf Lagerbielke is off to FC Twente in the Eredivisie for a season long loan. He follows Yuki Kobayashi out the door so numbers wise in central defence, Celtic look short with CCV, Scales, Welsh and the out-of-favour Nawrocki the only viable options. Don’t be surprised if Nawrocki is moved on this week and a first pick centre-back signed, with various names in the frame.
Then last night news broke of an £8m Celtic bid for LAFC star Mateusz Bogusz with negotiations ongoing with the Los Angeles side for the highly rated midfielder. Brendan did say he wanted two if the O’Riley deal went through.
There was also news of a Celtic enquiry to Crystal Palace for a re-union with Odsonne Edouard, perhaps that’s the insurance policy, if Manchester City come in for Kyogo this week. Scott Burns at Daily Record though seems to have been in contact with French Eddie’s representatives who report that a return to Celtic is not currently in the player’s thoughts, despite his time at Selhurst Park coming to a close.
With all that swirling around, and maybe one or two other surprises, Celtic also have the Champions League draw on Thursday to get excited – or feart – about, then there’s the Glasgow Derby on Sunday lunchtime, the other side of the window closing at 11pm on Friday evening.
Callum McGregor tried to negotiate his way through all of that kind of stuff when speaking to the media after the 3-0 win at Paisley on Sunday that keeps Celtic top of the table alongside Aberdeen as the only two teams with three wins from three games. theRangers are two points behind so Celtic can create a five points advantage on the Sunday with a Glasgow Derby victory.
“I think we have to trust the people in the positions to do the job. That’s the one thing that the club has been good at. We all trust each other. So from my end there’s no worries,” the Celtic captain said, as reported by Scottish Sun, as he considered the transfer window dramas.. “Hopefully when we get to the end of the week we’ll be where we need to be.”
“I think we’re probably the same as everyone else. You know, when you lose two or three bodies, especially quality ones, you have to try and replace them with, if not the same quality, then can we try and help the group as much as we can?
“We want to see the club and the group moving forward and we’ve lost a few, so it’s important that we try and replace that.”
Callum McGregor also had a quick word about the Glasgow Derby on Sunday but a usual the Celtic camp will prefer to do their talking on the park, rather get involved in the usual nonsense we hear ahead of these games from our noisy neighbours.
“No, it’s just talk, isn’t it? And talk is cheap. It’s a big game. When you come to these games, especially at home, you have to try to maximise it as much as you can.First and foremost, that means three points.
“If you can match that with a strong performance, then, of course, that would be the ideal world for everyone. But we know it’s never as easy as that.
“(the)Rangers are a good side. They obviously had a really good result on Saturday, so we know it will be a tough game. We have to give everything we’ve got in the tank for the game and hopefully we can have a positive afternoon,” Callum McGregor said.
It’s going to be quite a week for Celtic, wonder what dramas await us today?
It takes time for transfers especially important players to the club you are buying them from but when a player has accepted personal terms transfer will go through if we have them pity about O’Shea I rared him I thought it was a bridge to far wage wise bet his family were looking forward to free tickets the Sheffield man sounds a defender Rodgers can improve and a loan player from Barcelona can’t be bad maybe a winger yes busy week but that’s football when agents put pressure on clubs for there clients to move on I’m sure there is one or two at celtic park pushing for move or new deals must hold onto kyoko and hiata for another season man city is a worry right upto deadline
Calm doon ma bahooki.
Firstly Celtic have had months AGAIN to do transfers and failed.
Secondly French Eddie is only a fraction of Kyogo, move on rapidly from that one.