Transfer Talk

The Serbian team Vojvodina are worth keeping an eye on this year for potential players. They are currently 2nd in the league above Partizan and have a fair few talented prospects with contracts running out, so available cheaply.

A left back Mladen Devetak is a 21 year old Serbian U21 left back who can also play left centre back in a three. He is well built, quick and direct whilst having a decent cross and strike on his left foot. He looks better than another decent Serbian prospect Zlatan Sehovic who would be another low cost alternative with similar attributes. I would want to sign Laxalt as first choice but Devetak would make a good understudy rotation option.

25 year old left sided Centre Back Sinisa Sanicanin has recently broken into the Bosnian national team as a starting CB. Is tall and physically strong. He looks fairly similar to Jozo but better on the ball (perhaps a bit too aggressive in his defending at times). Being left footed would also complement our other CB options. Contract is up at the end of the season.

Mirko Topic is a 21 year old Serbian under 21 international defensive centre mid. He looks solid in the tackle and has a good range of passing looking comfortable on either foot. He also has a similar ability to Ajer to make runs from deep and carry the ball through midfield or read an interception which he can step on to and carry the ball. Contract is up at the end of the season so he would be a cheaper option than the likes of Petrovic of Red Star who is a highly rated player in a similar position to Topic

Dejan Zukic is a 19 year old attacking midfielder who is very comfortable on the ball with either foot. He would very much be a prospect rather than the finished article but also appears to be out of contract so would only cost a development fee. He has already made 50 appearances for the club, mainly as a sub given his age but has chipped in with 6 goals and assists despite playing few full games. He started their last game and got both a goal and assist.

 

Guess the problem is we could let anyone look a world beater, and I know he had a brief loan spell at Killie but I'd be watching that Karl'sson, looked excellent and direct.

 

Should be looking at Karamokos brother, looks a player. But with how successful Toney has been moving from Peterborough they will be looking for a lot for him now if he keeps this form up.

 

Jamuary window coming up is massive, hoping for

Ben Davies from Preston and Doughty from Charlton on pre contracts.

Soro, Connell, Klimala and Henderson all loaned out.

Ralston and Ntcham sold, Duffys loan cut short.

A deal agreed with Milan for Laxalt.

Another RW.

Another CB.

Start scouting replacements for Edouard and Christie.

 

Hate to be pessimistic. But we aren’t tying down Laxalt, he keeps playing the way he is he’ll be off quick as you like to a reasonably big club in Spain or Italy. We won’t be able to meet the asking price given he was bought by Milan for more than 10 million. We should enjoy the lad while he’s here.

 

I agree unfortunately, there’s little to no chance of him wanting to be here. I said in his thread if we had fans in the stadium then that might help our cause but he must be thinking “what the f***, this lot are crap” and at present he would be correct.

 

Really need to strength our midfield in January.

There is 2 derby games to play following the closure of the transfer and there’s every chance that we night to win both to win the league.

If we want to win those games then I feel we really need to freshen up the midfield. Rangers have dominated midfield in the last few games and that has allowed them to impose their style on the game. We can’t allow that again.

We need a CDM to replace Brown. A defensive minded player who can cut out attacks and cover full backs. Comfortable on the ball and able to play it forward.

We also need a box to box midfielder like Armstrong. Someone who makes late runs into the box but can also get back and help with the defensive side. Christie could be the man for that but he’s not been given a run of games in the centre of midfield.

 

He'll be keeping himself fit and working his own ticket back to Milan or a different club. I can not for a moment see a player of this guys pedigree coming here, seeing this carry on, and wanting to make the move perm.

The club is totally *. For all the talk and social media presence of trying to be rubbing shoulders with the top end clubs, we absolutely ruin it with the backroom side of things.

 

That said, he had a lovely wee day out with his wife and daughter today. Seems to be really enjoying life in Scotia.


Edit: Going by his instagram at least.

 

Don't particularly like to constantly hark back to this guy but in Rodgers time and the nigh on PL set up he had behind the scenes as far as training methods and sports science were concerned, I'd say we could've definitely got a guy of Laxalt's calibre in. A big part of the draw would also have been the money we could offer then being a CL club and....oh yea...being a CL club. I do recognise that having fans in migh also contribute, but let's be honest, if the stadium was packed to the rafters and we were still a garbage, * looking outfit like we have been... all the renditions of YNWA and let the people sing wouldn't make a blind bit of difference in keeping a player of Diego's quality on our books. We're honestly blessed to have him here currently, so as I say, let's just enjoy him.

 

Sad that once got Rodgers in that decent recruitment team got shipped out if we had Rodgers I charge of the side we has now ten would be won easily


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Oh absolutely, they’d have mopped up! In terms of actual technical ability and quality, I reckon this side is pound for pound better than the first two seasons under BR. Which makes it all the harder to stomach that they clearly aren’t being drilled well in order to get every last drop out of the ability they have. I think Barkas would flourish under Rodgers too as a ball playing goalkeeper, something which Forster, Gordon and Bain (despite this myth that he’s “good with his feet”) never have been.

 

Right back out of contract in the summer.



Diego Rico. LB with only a year left on his deal in the summer.

 

Get Barkas back in. If he still doesn’t impress to jan try to recoup some money back for him and go for another keeper (preferably Forster). CDM and a box to box midfielder.

Get rid of Nitcham and a few lads on loan.

 

For CDM we should go back in for Lindon Selahi who we were linked with in the summer. He was one of the best defensive midfielders in the Dutch league last year, will be available on a bosman in January or hopefully to sign then for a cheap fee then to get him in.

Another good prospects for that position would be Rodney Kongolo from Heerenveen but he would cost a bit more. Evert Linthorst of VVV Venlo is another talented CDM. The later two offer more physicality but Selahi outperformed both in terms of duels won etc and shows great anticipation of danger, as well as being the cheaper option. Being honest signing Selahi and Linthorst wouldn’t be a bad shout.

For CB Danilho Doekhi of Vitesse looks a good player at 22 he came through the Ajax academy so is very comfortable in possession is well built at 6’3 and has decent pace. Also capped at U21 for Holland. There was talk of a €3m fee in the last transfer window with his deal up in June 22.

A right midfield/ box to box midfield option is Abdou Harroui who again is a Dutch U21 player who is 22 has 3 goals in 8 and an assist this year but has been playing more CM. Last season he scored 4 and assisted 9 in 26 games mainly from RW. Looks to have a good cross on him and has good close control and decent pace. Currently plays for Sparta Rotterdam with his deal up in 2022.

Alternatively Turkish U21 international Burak Kapacak is having a good season at Bursaspor and could be a good addition to provide competition on the right wing. He’s quick tricky and can also play from the left

Bursaspor also have a highly rated 18 year old CF Ali Akram who looks to have serious potential.

If we can find a buyer I would sell Ntcham and if Eddy’s form doesn’t improve he would be as well away for as much as we can get for him. We would need to bring in another centre forward , Boulaye Dia from Reims would be a cracking signing but probably out our price range. Not sure on many other options but should be someone to complement what we already have.

It will also be interesting to see what happens if we receive decent bids for Ajer and Christie what would happen.

 

Could you imagine we signed Gallagher and Marshall instead of Duffy and Barkas???

 

Let’s have it right. Marshall has saved a couple of penalties and therefore deserves the praise he is getting for what he has done to help the nation get to their first tournament in 22 years. But let’s not get it twisted, it’s hardly as if he was pulling out worldies left right and centre. He’s also going on 36, 10 years Barkas’ senior. Nobody on here wanted him and we’re screaming for Forster, and failing that, Barkas. Let the guy we have prove his worth for * sake.

As for Gallagher......I probably would take him over Duffy lol. But that speaks more for how poor Duffy has been that I’d readily take a Motherwell level centre back over him.

 

Would be stupid to base this on one game but I do actually think Marshall and Gallagher would have given us more stability this season. Complete hindsight with Duffy though because he more than fitted the bill on paper.

We should definitely be looking at Gallagher in January. Barkas should come good.

 

Granted Duffy has been mince by his own standards, but is the bigger issue not the type of CB he is? And that it's just not the right fit for the football we play? For me, Gallagher is of a similar mould to Duffy?


Brings me back to this; 'Summary: Slow, traditional CB. Best role deep and clearing long balls/crosses. Not ideal for high possession, high line team vs low block so not recommended for Celtic’

Frightening when a Celtic fan podcast can do such an analysis before he's arrived and reach that conclusion. When an actual professional football club can't.

Obviously they failed to make an allowance for him being Irish and being a 'celtic fan growing up' which outweighs all of his flaws HH

 

It’s scary that we could probably do similar for a lot of our signings recently, clearly showing they don’t fit our team and compliment what we have. I think we take an outdated approach of the guy has talent so will fit in fine or has played EPL so must be decent type approach.