First couple of weeks in June nothing happens football wise.
Always a good time to go away. In the last 2 weeks I’ve been soaking up the sun in an apartment in a Spanish fishing village on the Costa Brava. Bliss.
As per the last three years Celtic win a treble and I head off with the family into a peaceful world switched off from the pressures of work safe in the knowledge Celtic’s first team players (bar a wee international doing of course) aren’t very busy. The club rarely do anything transfer wise this early. Perfect timing.
You’ve still got to keep your touch in regards the Hoops though so what better way than checking in the likes of Celtic News Now and Newsnow. Obviously I’m not going to read all those articles though. I need to preserve my precious O2 bolt on so my 4 year old can stream Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig until his heart’s content and I can get peace to read my read and soak up some rays.
Just a daily scouting of the headlines on refresh will do. Thankfully the Newsnow crew carefully check contributor’s factual content allowing me to skim safe in the knowledge I’m fully up to date.
First check in comes on evening of 3rd June. A quick scout of headlines show Rafa Benitez is likely to replace Neil Lennon next time around and that Gio Van Bronckhurst is looking to become new boss at the Rangers. Only been away a day but I suppose given his record Mr Gerrard was lucky to hang on as long as he did.
2 new managers in Glasgow next year. What a start!
On top of that Neil Lennon has been taking lessons on controlling his aggression from Graeme Souness. Christ! Scott Allan has been serenading Hibs fans with Sunshine on Leith prior to his signing on at Easter Road and Sean Clare (no I don’t know either) has Hearts rewriting history by making the Treble Treble winners look average at Hampden in the Cup final.
Slow news day for transfers I guess but no. The later headlines show Celtic are closing in on deals for David Turnbull from Motherwell, Adam Matthews is returning to Paradise after 5 years at Sunderland and Bolton hot shot Luca Connell is nearing signing from League 1 newcomers Bolton Wanderers. We’re out the blocks!
Day 2 gets off to a flyer. Celtic has kindly ‘released’ the entire summer scouting plan publicly and its headline news. I’ve been after some transparency from the board for many years. They’ve often seemed a bit slow to catch on to sharing updates on transfers via social media. Some have called it a leak. Surely not? We’re way too on the ball for that to happen. I view this as a welcome development in the modernising of our communication with supporters. An extension on last season’s advanced team news so we could get best odds on first goal scorers with club sponsor Dafabet. Bravo Mr Lawwell. A promotion surely beckons for whoever had that brainwave.
Further transfer news informs me that Craig Gordon has decided to leave Celtic rather than fight it out for the gloves with Scott Bain. Well the banner actually says he’s told his friends. I’m assuming that was to arrange his leaving drinks so now we’re a keeper down. Shame that, I thought that was one position we didn’t need to look at this summer.
Turns out Adam Matthews isn’t the only old face to return to the fold, apparently Efe Ambrose is all signed up too after his release from Derby. Welcome home Efe. Always rated you my son!
Couple of bits of disappointing news later in the day though as we miss out on top target midfielder Adam Maher. Apparently he’s signed for Utrecht from AZ Alkmaar. Ah well you can’t win them all. I decide to numb the pain with a couple of Mojitos by the sea and check in one final time to the news sites.
Apparently Rangers are now in for this Irish lad Luca Connell. What is this? I thought this kid had already paraded in the Hoops now we’re being hijacked by the new Glasgow club. Shoddy Celtic. Very shoddy.
But wait. Rakeem Harper midfield dynamo from West Brom is signed up. Must have been a quick shift in target by Lenny. In that case The Rangers are welcome to Luca Connell, though with an Italian forename and Irish Surname he might need to hit the ground running at Ibrox. Poor kid. Not my problem, onwards an upwards and another fine day from Celtic I must say.
5th of June and the sun is shining bright. I’m not even venturing to the beach. Pool only today so plenty of time to chill and top up the tan. Bliss.
A quick lunchtime check of Celtic News Now tells me that Olivier Ntcham has bolted. Apparently he’s signed for Porto and Marseille. Strange old deal but dual ownership has been floating around a while. Fee seems to be 15 million Euros. Good player but he wanted to go and his heart hasn’t been in it since his bromance with Dembele went long distance. We’ve also been signing a few over last couple of days so an exit for an unsettled player sounds all good in the grand scheme of things.
Things are taking a strange turn though. James Justin is heading to Leicester and not Celtic. This cannot be right he was one of the names the handily released recruitment road plan alluded to a couple of days back. So be it. Possibly as Congerton has moved to Leicester he’s taken a few contacts with him. I can live with that given his appalling record when in post plus I’m still hopeful John Park is back soon to find the new Van Dijk and Wanyama.
Then the big Bombshell . French Eddy has gone too. To Lazio apparently. 20 million Euros in the club’s sky rocket though . Not to be sneezed at but we’re looking a bit short up front and the Treble Treble team is now looking like it’s breaking up. This is turning into a terrible day. Glad I bought that Gin in duty free!
Thankfully I’m getting breaking news that Celtic have signed Neal Maupay from Brentford and Geroge Baldock from Sheffield United. A striker and a right back in one fell swoop. I’m Feeling a wave of relief here. Maupay was on the Recruitment memo so we’re back on track.
Added to this Tom Boyd is apparently saying Leigh Griffiths will be like a new 6 million signing and that the recruitment document doesn’t matter. Well Tom is still calling it a leak but he’s at least right about getting Leigh Griffiths back. I hadn’t thought about that Tom, feeling better already.
My head hits the pillow in a spin but even as the Treble Treble squad breaks up we are at least replacing them. Oh and the Luca Connell deal is done again. Turns out he’s a Celt after all. With that name he had to be! Phew.
Day 4 starts off well. David Turnbull looks like he’s signed from Motherwell. I thought that was already done? Losing track here.
Scotland’s young player of the year, and 16 goals from Midfield. See ya Ntcham we’ve just upgraded. Get in Peter Lawwell great work.
We’ve lost out on George Baldock from Sheffield Utd though. Seems I must have misread that one yesterday but we are in for a star striker. Bournemouth’s Lys Mousset for 10 million. 2 goals in only 70 odd appearances. Not bad kid.
Chris Sutton says he’s like Dembele, happy days. With Neil Maupay and this kid up front we’ll have a 25 mil partnership with Leigh Griffiths as a 6 million back up. Now I can see why we had to sell French Eddy.
Typical Celtic though. Just when I was getting that warm fuzzy feeling I’m told John Park has turned down Celtic and taken up a director of football role at Sunderland. Mind you the job Peter Lawwell is doing makes me think we can save the wage anyway. I can’t fault the Chief Exec this window. Pro-active or what?
Then the biggest kick in the nuts all week. We’ve sold Kieran Tierney for 30 million Euros to Barcelona…and Arsenal. Say it ain’t so? A club legend and we have no left backs at the club, not one. Disaster. Maybe we need a head of recruitment after all. In fact perhaps a new manager too.
Kris Ajer’s manager has told him to leave Celtic. The best left back in Scotland and now the most improved player at Celtic last season. Thankfully Lenny hasn’t lost his marbles. Ajer has been told to leave but by the Norwegian manager and not by Lenny after all.
So why have we just signed Phil Jagielka from Everton?
One last thing before bed. Ntcham has also signed for Lyon. We need to get into these new fangled multi-ownership schemes. We’re getting left behind here Celtic. Timeshare is clearly the new dual ownership. Keep up Mr L.
June 7th and I only get a chance to check in once on all the Hoops transfer news but what a great day it was. Super Joe Aribo is on his way from Charlton and Scott Dann is a new 6 million centre half we’ve signed and beaten Newcastle in that particular battle. Take that Rafa!
An Ecuadorian Sergio Quintero has signed. Nicknamed ‘The Machine’. A midfield ‘enforcer’ apparently. CNN explains why the John McGinn deal fell through last year. We must have pulled out as this lad is clearly the heir apparent to Scott Brown.
We’ve also signed Ademola Lookman on loan from Everton (as we’re short on wingers!)
Finally we’re announcing deals for some young fella called Luca Connell from Bolton and Adam Matthews is coming back. Just a little bit of history repeating!
The 8th of June is also a belter. Never saw this one coming. Henrik Larsson is the new assistant manager. The King of Kings is back to sprinkle his gold dust, genius appointment Lenny. We’re also due to announce Willie McStay as a head of recruitment. It is always important to have good Celtic men in key roles. Happy as Larry with these 2 appointments.
Player recruitment continues unabated too. Mathias Jorgenson has signed on from Huddersfield where he apparently was bored. I’ve been to Huddersfield twice. I get that Mathias. Welcome to Glasgow. We’re smiles better here!
Bahlul Mustafazada has also knocked back the other Glasgow mob and signed on from his club Gabala. Left back and centre half rolled into one. That Tierney lad was getting a bit injury prone anyway. Jobs a good ‘un.
Leicester have apparently signed Callum McGregor from the Hoops for 10 million but I assume that figure is missing a zero and with Turnbull already signed the blow of losing the greatest Scottish midfielder of the last 5 years is somewhat softened and let’s be honest Celtic’s first 100 million signing needs to be celebrated. Good luck Callum and well played Mr Lawwell. We were never going to sell our best player on the cheap to Brendan that’s for sure. Hat tip’s all round.
9th June. Sunday. But no day of rest for the Celts.
We’ve announced Johan Mjallby as the assistant manager to Neil Lennon and, errm Henrik Larsson. Must have needed 2 assistants. Not the first club to do that and what a dream team. Lennon, Larsson and Mjallby. We’ll always have Seville.
We’ve also signed Jordi Osei Tutu from Arsenal on loan. Never really played pro football as such from what I can see, but that should be no barrier to employment. A right back is very much needed and it must have been a bit of a backhander from the Gunners as we agreed to the Tierney joint sale with Barcelona. Helps to keep your customers happy. Pays off further down the line. Well played Celtic.
It’s also been announced Ntcham is no longer going to Marseille but seeing as he’s also signed for Lyon and Porto it’s safe to say he won’t be back to Celtic anyway so as you were everyone, stand by your beds.
We have announced 2 Scottish internationals in Greg Taylor and Stephen O’Donnell from Kilmarnock. I initially thought that was probably just lazy journalism as both were on International duty with Scotland and Celtic need full backs, but the headlines appeared over several banners on and I doubt these sites don’t do independent checks. Welcome to Celtic Greg and Stephen. All the best with your career’s in the Hoops.
One final deal sees Lawrence Shankland signing after his contract expired with Ayr. A prolific scorer in the lower leagues, he’ll give Mousset, Maupay and Griffiths some welcome competition. Good to have another Scot in the ranks too.
So the first week closes, and what a week. We’ve lost Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Olivier Ntcham, Scott Allan, Callum McGregor and French Eddy. Possibly Kris Ajer but I think there was confusion there. The sad break up of the Treble Treble team.
We’ve also been busy though. 3 strikers in. Neil Maupay. Yves Mousset and Lawrence Shankland, plus as Tom Boyd says Griffiths is really a new signing too.
In midfield we’ve got Luca Connell, David Turnbull, Rakeem Harper, Joe Aribo, Sergio Quintero, and Ademola Lookman.
And defensively where we all know we needed to address things we have.
Phil Jagielka, Efe Ambrose, Scott Dann, Adam Matthews, Stephen O’Donnell, Greg Taylor, Tommy Smith, Mathias Jorgenson, Bahlul Mustafazada and Jordi Osei Tutu. Depth!
With the backroom team also sorted out with Henrik and Dolph joining Lenny we’re sitting pretty. Picked a poor time to go abroad though. Didn’t see this coming!
Just one more week in the sun and with most of our transfer business done early it’s looking like a quiet week.
Monday starts off with the news we’ve signed up Fortuna Sittard midfielder Mark Diemers, never heard of him but apparently he’s been a top target for months so good news to start the week.
Brendan Rodgers also appears to say he’s signing both Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor for Leicester. The man is seriously out of touch. He’s only last week spent 100 million on Calmac and was a bit too slow off the mark as Kieran now plays for Barcelona (and Arsenal). I always thought Brendan Rodgers was a bit poor at recruitment matters but that’s just embarrassing!
Tuesday sees Celtic add Liam Moore from Reading and Liam Lindsay from Barnsley to further strengthen the centre of defence. Looks like we are getting the strength in numbers we need for a European push. No resting on the laurels for the Hoops. That 100 million from Calmac sale must be running low!
One final bit of news sneaks through as we sign the much sought after Amir Rrahmani from Dinamo Zagreb. Looks like we were the only ones actually seeking as I’ve never heard of this one either but by now in Lawwell I trust.
One in and one out on Wednesday. Mikael Lustig has released a musical video to announce his exit from Celtic as the Treble Treble team continues to break up. Mind you didn’t that Recruitment document say he’d left on 31st May? I guess there’s too much going on to keep up, or maybe he was just delayed getting copyright for the Atomic Kitten soundtrack. Thanks for the amazing service Mikael you’ll be sorely missed.
But Lawwell and Lennon are not for messing about. Arsenal (or is it Birmingham?) right back Carl Jenkinson has signed on at Parkhead. We are ahead of the curve this window. This is almost unreal.
Thursday sees West Ham starlet Marcus Browne sign on loan as we seek further attacking midfield cover for the exits of Ntcham and Calmac. Rio Ferdinand rates him and that’s good enough for me. Get your boots cleaned Marcus we start training on Monday!
Final news says we’re signing Luca Connell from Bolton. Think I’ve heard that name before. Oh and the deal for David Turnbull is hotting up. A goalscoring midfielder from Motherwell…apparently. How many do they have?
14th June and I’m reaching the ending of my annual jaunt for a fortnight in the sun. Celts start back on Monday and I’m back then too.
Today starts with the loose ends from yesterday getting tied up. Apparently Luca Connell has signed for Celtic after rejecting The Rangers. The new club aren’t having much luck going head to head with the Celts this summer. Perhaps they need to look away from Irish Italians. Got to be a tough market for them to be fair!
Further news says the other goalscoring Motherwell midfielder is having his medical, though strangely that may be in Dublin. Might be with Luca. 2 birds one stone. Welcome aboard guys.
2 more central defenders also signed up Christopher Julien from Toulouse (not this window we don’t!) and Nathan Gassama from Nantes. We’ve beaten Watford, Southampton and Chelsea to this one. Who can’t compete? Clearly we’ve learned our lessons from the Boyata induced central defence shortage of 2018 and got enough central defenders to cover all eventualities. Proper planning from the Lawwell and Lennon dream team. Loving it.
Apparently however the David Turnbull deal is off as the agent and Lawwell couldn’t agree on wages or such like. No big deal. We already have his namesake on board and he’s also a goal scoring midfielder, and from Motherwell too.
Saturday sees little transfer talk. There seems a massive fallout from this Motherwell kid not agreeing terms. Peter Lawwell has continued the new found love of open communication and even tweeted ‘live’ updates to the Celtic support. This is massively welcome. The fallout seems overblown but maybe it was just a quiet day on the transfer front. From here it looks like we’ve signed adequate cover in midfield so seems a bit of overkill to me. Can’t win them all!
At the close of play we sign Luca Connell from Bolton. The Rangers have missed out again.
Last day in Viva Espana and looking forward to going home. Only so much sun, sea and San Miguel you can take without yearning for a pint of Tennents and a downpour.
Bit of a blow on Sunday however when Henrik Larsson joins Helsingborgs as their new manager. I expected more loyalty from the King of Kings. What has happened to football? No loyalty anywhere anymore. How long was he in post? A week?
At least we have Mjallby. We’ve a lot of players to bed in on Monday and Lenny will need help. Willie McStay can help out short term just until we get someone in. Forward planning Peter. Loving your work.
Early flight on Monday. Quick check in on the news sites on departure and we’ve signed Tomas Kalas from Chelsea. Well I did earmark centre half for particular need and we’ve sure done that.
Looking forward to getting home and my Brother is picking me up. He checks we had a good time and I ask him what he thinks of all the Celtic news.
All good Bruv. Looks like the David Turnbull deal is back on and we’re signing some Irish lad from Bolton. Luca Connell.
Niall J
