Whilst it seems we’re getting a good deal for Jota (which would have been greater had the wild 30% sell-on with Benfica not been agreed), it still leaves one concerned with the fact that it did not beat our record transfer fee for an outgoing player from the club. That player, of course, being our academy graduate, Kieran Tierney, who joined Arsenal back in 2019 for £25 million also.
It is disconcerting that Kieran was a left-back and although some might say things like “oh well, he did it more in Europe and stuff” it still worries me as a Celtic supporter that that may be the magical fee that teams think we will part with our best players’ for. A glass ceiling should not be placed upon the club, regardless of the fact we play in the Scottish Premiership and we should remind everyone of that.
For a highly creative player in Jota to be leaving for the same fee as a defender isn’t a great look, I would argue. It’s clear that his footballing abilities and potential to enhance those talents greatly are the reason Celtic shelled out the £6.5 million to his boyhood heroes Benfica last summer, after his initial loan spell in which he was devastating at times.
Then this year; his magnificent technique to guide that stormer of a free-kick past the octopus-like Thibault Courtois in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League group stages was something else. You could see how raging the big Belgian goalkeeper was at getting beat by the Portuguese superstar on that particular evening, even though they were winning by some margin at the time.
With this in mind, I think it is imperative that when the time comes, Kyogo Furuhashi is sold for more than £25 million. We need to smash this transfer record again to make progress, otherwise, we will stagnate and be renowned for taking a particular fee for our players’. I know some will argue the old point “there’s no point keeping unhappy players, if they want to go, good riddance”, but it should still always be on our terms. Always.
Time to up the ante next time, Bhoys!
Paul Gillespie
HUGE SAVINGS IN THE CELTIC STAR’S SUMMER SALE!
The Celtic Star’s Father’s Day Promotion has been so successful, with hundreds of books at great prices being posted to Celtic fans all over the world, that we’ve decided to continue with the sale until the end of July. We’ve reduced all six books currently available from their usual retail price of £20 and prices are as low as £6 (see below).
All books are high quality hardback, with some signed by the author. And it’s also worth noting that you only pay postage on one book, so it’s free for the second, third and so on. ORDER HERE or click on The Celtic Star image above…this is how it feels to be Celtic!
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- Summer Sale – Just £11
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- Summer Sale – Just £11
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- Harry Hood – Twice as Good
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- Summer Sale – Just £6
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- Summer Sale – Just £6
Agreed. Scottish football undersells itself whereas EPL clubs think nothing of throwing £50 million+ to clubs in Portugal & the Netherlands. Time to hold fast & play better poker when we have long enough contracts on our star players.
Indeed Paul I agree wholeheartedly with the crux of the matter. We are being “typecast” as £25mil seller. If we continue to allow sales of our top talent after just 12-18 months on a long contract then we end up in a vicious cycle of churning out players ‘pricecast’. The need to retain our top talent to progress in the European field is paramount. In other words to get the ceiling smashed (transfer wise)we have to be competing relative to our abilities and when that happens we will start the £30m+ fees. The players that jump ship after a year will keep the funds rolling in. The ones who stay and give it a try will gain for both Celtic and themselves.
Bit of a rant there but hope you get my point.
If Barry Ferguson thinks Cantwell is worh 40 million and has done nothing what number can you put ok kyogo a player who they got for nothing, going by Fergusons logic Kyogo is a 100 million
Kyogo is worth what somebody is willing to pay for him not the price we put on him.