With all the rumours surrounding the Celtic right-back Josip Juranovic in recent days, the Hoops’ supporters will be contemplating what this means for the January transfer window. No doubt Ange Postecoglou and his team will have prepared for any outcome, with himself, Mark Lawwell and Michael Nicholson remaining vigilant ahead of another winter transfer period.
🇭🇷 | 𝗝𝗝 𝗔𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗤𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗿
Josip Juranovic & his Croatia side have arrived in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
They play Morocco in their opening match next Wednesday, all the best 🍀 pic.twitter.com/o0ImahWIjy
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) November 18, 2022
The Celtic manager has admitted recently that we must be more active and aggressive on the transfer side of things, if this team and club are to evolve into one that plays and competes at UEFA Champions League group stage level. Some stars may leave and will be replaced. One of those could be Josip and it wouldn’t surprise me if he were to leave after Christmas time.
There was always going to be a cycle for the Croatian international at Parkhead, that much was clear when he arrived. At £2.5 million we truly robbed Legia Warsaw for his talent. A fully fledged international full-back is hard to come by, especially for that kind of money. We struck gold with Jura in all honesty but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ange did it again if he does go.
If he has a good showing in Qatar, we may receive an offer that will be too good to refuse. He is an excellent player but if Kieran Tierney-type money arrived I would have no compunction parting company with the Croat, if he feels he’s ready for a new challenge too. He’s been okay this year, but certainly not anywhere near as good as his debut season I would posit. But if he’s keen to try pastures new, I certainly wouldn’t make too big a deal over it.
The boss has said it will be a natural progression for some players who come into the club and it may be jarring for us as fans but ultimately, this will merely be another faze in the process of turning us into a European force once again. Such is the faith we all have in Ange Postecoglou and his judgement now, I don’t think anyone would cry salt tears if Josip left for the English Premier League or another Top Five League.
He has truly transformed our recruitment to the point that we feel totally comfortable with whatever he feels is required to make this club better and more efficient. If that means parting with some of our heroes, so be it. Under the previous regime that would have been unthinkable; when Tierney left it kind of felt like the beginning of the end in my opinion, and that we would never adequately replace the Scottish international. So it proved to be. We went on to lose our Ten-in-a-row bid due in no small part to the awful recruitment since Lennon came back. I don’t foresee that with Ange.
Trust the process.
Our club is in safe hands right now.
Paul Gillespie
The Celtic Rising ~ 1965: The Year Jock Stein Changed Everything is selling so well we’re down to our last few hundred copies. Don’t miss out on this brilliant new book from David Potter. Order a signed copy now: https://t.co/vU6OdmXgnh pic.twitter.com/CvUi9nJtsO
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) November 18, 2022
I frankly don’t care who the player, or coach for that matter is. If they want out, let them go and not mess us around the way Rodgers allowed Armstrong and Boyata in particular do!
These two clowns were allowed to try engineering exits and caused major disruption in the dressing rooms in the process!
Then when nobody came for them we allowed them back into the team.
When the season ended for each of them they bolted at the first opportunity! Boyata stabbed us in the back most by wasting out his contract and going free.
Armstrong was just thinking he was better than he is.
But if we are going to lose Juranovic we need a first choice right back, and respectfully Ralston isn’t that man! He is a decent second choice/back up, but not good enough to be first choice.
Its great that he has come through the ranks and dug in to improve 300%, but we can’t let the sentimentality get in the way of reality. We need a first choice right back who is of the same calibre as Juranovic or better.