Celtic’s January transfer window may have closed with little late action of note; however, you certainly can’t argue with its success.
Ange Postecoglou asked for his incomings to be concluded early in the window and the first three were actually announced before it started, as Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate kicked off a Celtic Hogmanay party amongst the fans and ensured all three players were in the door when training resumed after the winter break, indeed Maeda and Hatate have already scored for the club, just to emphasise the wisdom of Postecoglou and the supporting work from CEO Michael Nicholson.
Daizen Maeda of Celtic celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Hibernian FC at on January 17, 2022 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Photo: Andrew Milligan. IMago/PA Images
Johnny Kenny was next to follow as he moved from Sligo Rovers, and whilst initially assumed due to his age to be a B team signing, the player, although yet to feature due to injury, has been named in the first team squad on the club website and it could be the promising Irish striker could already be adding depth to Celtic’s much improved striking options.
And the last to enter the building was Matt O’Riley, a No8 with positional versatility to boot signed, in a £1.5m deal from MK Dons. O’Riley has already contributed with two fine performances in the wins at Tynecastle and against Dundee United and already looks a real find with further potential.
Meanwhile leaving Celtic, we’ve seen Ewan Henderson move to Hibs on an initial loan deal with a permanent transfer arranged for the summer, midfielder Liam Shaw has joined Motherwell on loan for the rest of the season, Osaze Urhoghide has joined Belgian side KV Oostende until the summer, however a surprising option to buy has been included in that deal, and Adam Montgomery joined Scott Brown at Aberdeen on another short-term loan until the end of the season. Lee O’Connor also left Celtic converting his loan at Tranmere Rovers to a permanent move.
READ THIS…Deadline Day Review: Clever Celtic, Aaron Ramsay unfit for Paradise, Souttar plays in Edinburgh Derby
Over on the other side of the city however there has been great celebration as Welsh international Aaron Ramsey moved to Ibrox from Juventus. The move has certainly excited our rivals, however the league he has left behind have an altogether different opinion of the much lauded and expensive loan signing, with Ramsey according to Football Italia collecting the Calcio Bidone award, or the player you’d most like to put in the bin award, as Serie A’s biggest flop of the season!
‘Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey has won the Calcio Bidone award as the biggest flop in Serie A, beating Lazio striker Vedat Muriqi and another Bianconeri player, Arthur Melo.
The award is held every year in Italy to celebrate the ultimate Bidone – player you’d like to put in the bin – who is not so much the worst as the most disappointing. Ramsey was a free agent from Arsenal in 2019, but while he always did struggle with injuries, this season has been even less eventful with just 112 minutes of football for his club.
The Wales international was top of the Calcio Bidone charts with 2,686 votes, only very narrowly beating Lazio centre-forward Muriqi, who had 2,567 votes. Kosovo international Muriqi cost €20m to sign from Fenerbahce in September 2020 and has managed only two goals in 48 games for Lazio.’
And going by the comments left behind it seems Aaron Ramsey leaves a far from happy support behind him as he starts his new adventure in Scotland.
Cypher on Jan 13, 2022 17:25 at 5:25 pm – Congratulations!! Well deserved.
Peppe on Jan 13, 2022 17:51 at 5:51 pm – Happy for Aaron! Can we have an award ceremony including speeches please?
Rosario on Jan 13, 2022 18:01 at 6:01 pm – He is on £325K a week!
The soup on Jan 13, 2022 18:09 at 6:09 pm – Exactly Rosario – i wouldn’t mind been called a flop if I was on that kind of money.
palpatine on Jan 13, 2022 18:15 at 6:15 pm – 1. He spoke badly about the club, 2. Was not available most of the time, 3. Huge wages, 4. Taking forever to leave and not one fan of his remains. I mean we are half way into January and Ramsey is still a Juventus player somehow.
fERBAN on Jan 13, 2022 23:21 at 11:21 pm – If Newcastrol GTX are dumb enough to pay 30m for Wood, then surely Juve should be on the phone to them to see how much they’d be willing to pay for this disaster.
NOrata on Jan 13, 2022 23:59 at 11:59 pm – Unashamedly a tic. It’s not just his endless injuries and low desire but it’s his whole demeanour that stinks. He’s been nothing short of a parasite at Juve. A fatberg clogging the arteries of the club. Hopefully we can offload ASAP.
As far as transfer windows go, it appears Celtic have come out stronger than they went in, with some excellent signings with the potential to improve the first eleven, meanwhile across the city it’s once again time to try the expensive smoke and mirrors gamble approach. I’m sure I’ve seen this movie before!
Niall J
