When Celtic played Betis on 9 December and emerged with an impressive 3-2 win, it was with a shadow team. At the time it looked as if an opportunity was given to those on the periphery to shine and allow first team players who had played exhaustively to rest. It is starting to look now as if it was a shop window exercise to boot.
In recent days we’ve heard Ewen Henderson, who scored his first goal for the club that night, has been advised he can move on and Shaun Maloney now in charge at Hibs, seems keen. Meanwhile offers are apparently being considered for both Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide, who also played against the Spaniards. Whether those are permanent deals, or whether the pair join the seven first team squad players already out on loan, remains to be seen. It would seem however, Ange Postecoglou has assessed the skillsets of all three and deemed them either not ready or no longer required.
It’s a harsh game, however, considering our three recent signings from Japan has increased the first team pool to 42 players, even with seven on loan already room has to be made, as you get the impression the manager still wants new recruits and it doesn’t take an arithmetical genius to conclude the numbers don’t add up for a squad where quantity it appears far exceeds the quality the manager demands – and that doesn’t bode well for some of the players chosen for the matchday squad against Betis or others who didn’t even make that cut.
So, with three rumoured to be heading out the door in the transfer window, who else is likely to go?
We’ve touched on the goalkeepers already and it’s fair to say at least one of, if not both, Conor Hazard and Vasilis Barkas, assuming there is interest, would be likely to be moved on. Indeed, there is scope for Scott Bain to follow suit if a suitable alternative could be found to play second fiddle to Joe Hart.
Meanwhile in the full back areas Boli Bolingoli’s number looks to be up as both Liam Scales and Greg Taylor seem more fancied and made the European squad. Meanwhile Adam Montgomery may not be ready yet but has the raw ingredients to become a regular part of the squad. With Taylor’s recent injury concerns you’d say even a loan deal for development purposes is something we can’t consider at this juncture for Montgomery, unless of course we’re looking at further additions in that area of the team, and in truth is may well be worth considering.
There is little scope for the loss of any further defenders and instead it seems an area of the squad we seem suitably covered for. Ralston and Juranovic are different players in style but ultimately sound for rotation at right back, and in central defence Starfelt, Carter-Vickers and Stephen Welsh certainly seem reliable sorts. With Christopher Jullien returning to training and Dane Murray as a youthful fallback, there appears little chance of further exits as five players for two positions appears ample cover.
However, in midfield there must be some players now wondering if their time is up. With Nir Bitton showing the Celtic website was always right to list him as a midfielder rather than defender over the years, and the recent introduction of Ideguchi to the first team squad, it has to be said the writing looks to be on the wall for Ismaila Soro and indeed anyone else you’d class as a holding midfielder or deep lying playmaker.
Soro doesn’t seem to be able to marry his physical attributes to a disciplined mind and as such, although he may bring intensity to the team, with the mental penny not dropping, it may well be the likeable Soro seeks another challenge, alongside Shaw. If that’s the case and Postecoglou has limited patience, it may not be time up for James McCarthy just yet but his jacket could be on a shoogly peg come the summer. There was improvement last time out against St Johnstone but the tank emptied again within an hour of play and he simply has to evidence he has the stamina to produce for Postecoglou’s intensity of play and that’s before we even get to whether his style fits.
On the wings there are further choices to be made but you’d assume current injury concerns may well see everyone remain in place. That doesn’t mean Karamoko Dembele, with six months left on his contract and no impact made in the first team, doesn’t have a question mark over his future, nor does it mean Mikey Johnston, who was slowly improving and seems to be liked by Postecoglou, don’t have to be concerned. Instead, they simply may have more time to prove themselves at Celtic due to the injury hit list, and while Dembele needs to get his chance, Johnston needs to add decision making to his other talents.
Meanwhile James Forrest at 30 years of age – and unable to string games together over a season and a half now – will also have to evidence his own body, much like McCarthy’s, is up to what Postecoglou demands. It is interesting after all Celtic still appear to be linked with wide players despite recent signings, as such it may well be plans are afoot, even if it’s not in this particular transfer window. For some that may be down to luck rather than design but it’s a thorn that will need to be grasped for the likes of Forrest, Johnston and Dembele.
Up front there are similar stories emerging. Giorgos Giakoumakis is a player who impressed against St Johnstone and at home to Ferencvaros but failed dismally against Livingston. He had the excuse of no pre-season of note, but if he has a future, it is surely as an impact substitute, as his style doesn’t seem to fit a starting eleven under Postecoglou, however there is merit in arguing he could have value when we need to mix it up or hold the ball up and see games out.
However much like McCarthy, Johnston and Forrest there are also fitness issues that must be put to bed to allow Giorgos Giakoumakis to prove himself, but with Daizen Maeda now an option to fill in for Kyogo Furuhashi and even Lilel Abada showing his clear worth as a central option, Giakoumakis will need to take his chance and prove his fitness.
And the same has to be said for Albian Ajeti. Indeed, you get the impression if he can get fit now it will only be enough to pass a medical at another club.
Ajeti is undoubtedly a high earner and with Maeda and Furuhashi unlikely to be taking home a less than substantial weekly wage, the clear fall guy is the former West Ham striker. Ajeti is a player I like but he is also frustrating. He can score goals but looks a striker who prefers a partner alongside him, one to do the leg work for him, and that does not an Ange player make.
Bar the odd flash of form, like Betis away, we’ve seen little from Ajeti to warrant him continuing as a high earner and simply not being at his work often enough. If Ajeti can get passably fit, he may not even last until the summer. Instead, he may join those who make way, if we can attract suitable suitors that is, in the January window.
When you consider of the three players likely to be moving on in Henderson, Shaw and Urhoghide, and those possibly likely to follow in this window in Barkas, Hazard, Bolingoli, Soro, and Ajeti, you’d hope our scouting system is now back on track, as historically it has thrown up a few expensive mistakes.
You can gamble with some of the younger recruits and pass it off as high rewards for limited outlay. As we saw with Jeremie Frimpong that can work. However, what we do need is players, even if they don’t become a Frimpong, who can at least be of a standard that they offer an option to the manager. Not having that to fall back on has seen injury hit the squad and over reliance play a part.
That inability to rotate, with players a manager can at least trust to fill in occasionally, has impacted the team. However, the others, the ones when you pay north of £4.5m,, such as Albian Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas, you have to know you are getting it right more often than not and it is something we simply had to improve on. Fingers crossed it appears we may have now.
Next season, if we have a dead rubber game, we need to ensure it is used purely to give youngsters a chance to impress or rest first team players. What we don’t need is another Betis game where it now seems we were also showcasing the residual effects of poor recruitment, and far too many of them.
Because as much as we need to move players on, and I’m sure some will argue with the players I’ve highlighted, we still have to find clubs willing to take the players on and we have to persuade some on high wages that the moves on offer are financially viable to them.
That’s the rub when recruitment is haphazard. It appears on recent evidence that may be improving, but we still need to shift some of those we didn’t get right and do so soon, before they impact on the speed of managers’ plans for the future.
Niall J
