Mark Lawwell left his role as Head of Recruitment at Celtic on Friday afternoon. The Scottish Champions confirmed that the former City Group operative had resigned along with his No.2 Joe Dudgeon, Lead First Team Scout, with the pairing being placed on gardening leave.
As the news settles, more information is coming out about Lawwell’s brief while in charge of recruitment at Celtic and it would certainly tie in with the type of signings that the club have made. In the Daily Mail print edition on Saturday, Stephen McGowan claims that Lawwell was in charge of identifying players based upon the following remit: between 19 and 23, have international experience and meet certain financial constraints.
The club have certainly been operating within these brackets but may benefit from looking slightly outwith the confines to deliver the desired quality that can take the team to the next level.
Since arriving in 2022, Celtic have signed: Benjamin Siegrist, Alexandro Bernabei, Aaron Mooy, Moritz Jenz, Sead Haksabanovic, Oliver Abildgaard, Yuki Kobayashi, Alistair Johnston, Tomoki Iwata, Oh, Odin Thiago Holm, Marco Tilio, Yang, Kwon, Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Luis Palma, Nat Phillips, Paulo Bernardo, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah.
The club would benefit from reshaping the recruitment wing in order to continue in the hunt for quality. With Lawwell leaving, hopefully plans have already been put in place ahead of the summer window but given the planning ahead of January, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything.
Despite the transfer window ending, Celtic are nearing the sale of Liel Abada to FC Charlotte in the MLS. The Israeli winger is set to depart in a deal worth £11m