Celtic are a club that will continue – or should continue – to buy young players at a low cost, develop them, and sell them at a high price in order to keep the club’s coffers in tact. Kristoffer Ajer, Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard, Jeremie Frimpong; the list goes on in terms of recent success stories.
The chopping and changing between the board and managers nowadays means that those stories may start to become few and far between, though. Take last summer for example – David Turnbull was probably the only signing who followed in the footsteps of this model, with three loan signings in Diego Laxalt, Shane Duffy and Moi Elyounoussi all failing to flatter. Add permanent signings Albian Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas to this – it makes for grim reading.
Which is why Celtic’s transfer policy this summer appears to be a lot better.
Kyogo Furuhashi, Josip Juranovic, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Carl Starfelt have all added a wealth of experience to the squad – and being just 26 years old, the quartet are far from old.
Perhaps the signing of Liel Abada is the most promising, with the 20-year-old already shining on the stage at Celtic Park.
But there is another player who has caught the attention, and should be snapped up immediately if Celtic are to progress as a club – Jota.
The Portuguese winger signed as a deadline day purchase from Benfica, on a season-long loan with an option to buy for a reported £6.4million.
And already, fans can see he is worth that. A dribbling style akin to that of other Portuguese greats Ricardo Quaresma and Nani, there is a special something about the way Jota plays that sets him apart from the rest.
And like Edouard, Celtic fans have seen his qualities in the loan deal first – knowing full well that if they do buy him for £6.4million, the potential to sell the tricky winger for much more is increasingly growing.
Not only would Celtic benefit from his quality whilst he was here, but the club would undoubtedly receive a fee upwards of double that if they were to sell him – and if the Benfica boy was to stay, £6.4million for his services would represent good value, too. Time to sort it, Celtic…
I would like Celtic to buy local again. Buy good young players that do not have the easy get out clause of “settling in” to a new country etc etc & we have to endure their poor performances for at least a year before it’s realised that they are just not good enough (Starfelt).
Nisbet from Hibs should already be a Celtic player. McCann from St Johnstone would have been an excellent signing & cheap. John McGinn should have been a steal from Hibs if it wasn’t for the arrogance (& absolute stupidity) of Lawwell.
Also, Celtic in a re-buidling phase could & should have went for some former Celtic players with the club at heart that could have still done a job like Charlie Mulgrew. A left sided CB that can also play at LB, 35 years old & still better than the waste of money turnip Swede Starfelt.
Rangers did it with bringing back McGregor & Davis. A rebuild needs solid foundations & a good mix youth & experience, it doesn’t mean EVERY signing has to have a sell-on profitn mind.
We should have kept Craig Gordon, another very bad business move when throwing away good money on Barkas. Criminal signings him, Starfelt & Ajeti for what they cost us.
Buy good local players, make us better & make your opponents worse … common sense. Don’t buy arrogant, lazy young foreigners with too much money who see us as just a stepping stone & who chuck the toys out their Gucci pram when the mood takes them.