Dampened Expectations. “It’s very quiet, at the minute,” Neil Lennon noted as he dampened down any expectations of a busy end to the transfer window. Yesterday @paulthetim confirmed that he’d heard directly from Victor Wanyama and that there had been no contact from Celtic in the window.
And Neil Lennon also distanced himself with a move to bring Filip Benkovic back to the club for a second loan spell, saying at yesterday’s Media Conference that he was asked about that at the weekend but he’s “well covered for central defenders” at the minute.
“We’re working away, but if we don’t bring anyone else in then I’ll be happy to go with what we have.
“The squad has good depth and quality. It’s always a difficult window and fans are looking for new faces. But I won’t bring in players just for the sake of it.
“Put it this way, if the window closed tonight I’d be happy enough,” Lenny said.
“It helps we had a good window last summer. That was very good and I was delighted with it, even though one or two are out at the moment.
“I can’t guarantee we’ll do any more business this month. Sometimes, towards the end of a window, players become available that you wouldn’t have expected. A few names may pique our interest, but right now it’s all quiet.
“Edouard won’t be going anywhere, there is no chance of that. He is too good a player and you could see the impact he made last weekend. He doesn’t get affected by anything. He is quiet and has a cool streak.”
Here’s the manager’s Media Conference ahead of the trip to McDiarmid Park this evening.
After the defeat from the Rangers at the end of December, Celtic let it be known that their plan was to strengthen in this window so that we would be in a position to win every match between the re-start after the winter break and the end of the season.
The gaffer and the new Bhoy 🍀🎯 pic.twitter.com/dFIVEArLqm
— 90 Minute Cynic (@90MinuteCynic) January 28, 2020
Celtic, it was thought, were going to sign a few players ready to play in the first team, ‘oven ready’ stars who could make an immediate impact. Everyone expected Scotty Sinclair to move on and no tears have been shed among the support at the likes of Kouassi or Hendry going out on loan.
But the two signings, Patryk Klimala and Ismaila Soro are promising young players in their early twenties who are probably unlikely to feature too often in the run in towards the end of this season.
🍀 | January Transfer Window
It would appear following the managers press conference this afternoon that Celtic are more or less done in the market this window.
🇵🇱 Patryk Klimala ✅
🇨🇮 Ismaila Soro ✅Your thoughts on the window? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/6IxjoPguB9
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) January 28, 2020
Maybe the foot came off the gas as far as the transfer window goes after the result at Tynecastle at the weekend, with Celtic now 5 points clear having played a game more. Make no mistake though while that was a brilliant result for us the title race is still alive and the danger is there that we could lose this league.
Neil Lennon reckons we are well placed as far as central defenders go, yet Ajer was missing at the weekend, Jozo is once again a doubt for this evening, Bitton lasted five minutes at Firhill before going off injured and we had to recall young Stephen Welsh from his season long loan at Morton with their manager saying that Celtic needed him for cover.
The addition of Filip Benkovic to the Celtic defensive options would clearly have strengthened Celtic for the run-in but it looks like that isn’t happening either – and it’s not down to our former manager refusing to do us a favour.
And looking slightly further forward, are the Patryk Klimala and Ismaila Soro signings the replacements for two going out the door in the summer window?
The new Bhoy 😎
Soro ✊🍀 pic.twitter.com/iaCAMZQuor
— 90 Minute Cynic (@90MinuteCynic) January 28, 2020
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