As we have already discussed on The Celtic Star last night, reports from Italy have stated that Celtic are leading the race to sign Schalke defender Malick Thiaw, who has a reputed transfer value of €8 million on his head. This is not a negligible amount of money to put down for any player in Celtic’s position – but especially when it is not a flair player.
Chris Jullien is leaving Parkhead, that much is certain. Ange Postecoglou is rumoured to want to bring in a ball-playing central defender to compete with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt at the Celtic rearguard next term. But the fee being quoted for Thiaw seems overly excessive, which begs the question: if we were going to pay that much would we not fork out the money for Ko Itakura?
All the links between Ange, Celtic and the City Group are obvious reasons why that deal would make sense this summer. As usual there have been rumblings that City are hustling teams when it comes to the fee as interest in their Japanese player piqued when Schalke could not afford to sign him full-time after a sterling season in Bundesliga 2.
Fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach stepped in once their comrades could not fulfil the financial promise in the contract negotiated when Ko moved to Germany, but now BILD have reported that they are getting cold feet too as City put the price up again. It’s a sellers marketplace and all that jazz afterall. Capitalism at its finest right there folks.
So now Ko Itakura is still looking for a home and we are still looking for that mysterious cultured centre-half alongside a few other things – like Vinicius Souza for one! All joking aside though, it seems odd that we should not be opting to push the boat out a bit further on Itakura – who is a fully fledged international with umpteen caps to his name; a wealth of experience in Germany and Asia (where Ange has previously coached); and someone who was highly regarded by the City Group.
Now Thiaw may very well be a phenomenal talent, but no matter what, at 20-years-old he is a baby for a defender. They say that defenders peak later too – although if Italian they are 17 going on 40. Itakura is 25. That means your getting someone who is not too far away from hitting his best years, and the period of his best re-sale value one could argue.
The figures mentioned for the Japan player are £5 million and above. So if we were going to fork out a mammoth €8 million for Malick Thiaw, it doesn’t make sense considering the interest we retain in Itakura or the fact that Thiaw will still be very raw at his tender age. Stephen Welsh has considerable experience for his age but yet hasn’t had any real, meaningful game time under Ange. It seems an odd move to splash out that kind of dosh for someone still quite wet behind the ears.
Who knows? Maybe Thiaw is a cut above and we are knowingly investing in a nest egg that will eventually hatch leaving us with a fortune that will dwarf our initial outlay for the young German defender. But then again, maybe we should be pushing for a more experienced candidate who will compete with our current double-act for a starting spot.
What do you think?
Who would be the better option for Celtic to replace Christopher Jullien – Malick Thiaw or Ko Itakura?
Paul Gillespie
1000%paul ive been scratchin my head as to why were not heading in that direction too never heard of thiaw well not sice he stopped doin inspector morse anyway (sorry) there again i ‘d never heard of lubo???
martin glover