Lennon: I Need to Sell

NEIL LENNON has admitted he will have to ship out players before he can buy again.

The Celtic manager has already bought nine new Bhoys - but he wants three more.
Manchester City's Shay Given and Newcastle's Fraser Forster are contenders to fill his goalkeeping vacancy and he's still in the market for two more outfield players.
But with the squad now top-heavy, Lennon says he will need to shift bodies before others come in.
He said: "I probably won't bring in the players I want unless I move a few out first. It's a balancing act, We have moved a lot of players out on transfers and on loan, so the squad has been trimmed.
"We've added nine and I think we've added quality.
"A lot of younger players have gone out who would only be on the periphery here, but now they will get to play football.
"I think that will be more beneficial than sitting around here getting five or 10 minutes every two or three games or playing development games."
Despite the number of arrivals, Lennon didn't land the household name he was looking for. But he insists none of the targets he has in mind need be top drawer.
He added: "It doesn't have to be a marquee signing. The likes of Craig Bellamy, Sol Campbell and David James were top quality and that's why we made a play for them. I felt it was worth doing."
Meanwhile, Irish keeper Given has been urged to quit Manchester City by a former team-mate.
Stephen Ireland, who left City for Aston Villa, said: "Shay needs to be playing every week - he's far too good to be left sitting on the bench."

 

Why are we letting all of our * out on loan then ? Just get them to * ASAP. These loan deals aren't doing us any favours. I think Lennon will offload Crosas (shame on the guy) next.

 

Surely not we have 10 million sitting in the bank , if this is the case there will be a few unhappy supporters including myself .

 

My opinion is this may also be aimed at preparing Fortune that he may have to leave....

 

X2 . I think that the money spent against the money recieved in transfers leaves us with around £7m.

 

I hope this is to do with the size of our squad and not the supposed 10 million we got from McGeady.

Reckon Loovens and Crosas might leave.

 

I think its more to do with having too many players sitting about doing nothing rather than not having the money.

 

Won't the new debt have a constraint around the transfer money we have left? I know that it should be put towards new players, but you know what the board of directors are like...

 

:veryhappy:

 

Personally, I'd be absolutely gutted if Fortune left. I think he was unfairly slated last year by fans that wanted him to do something that he wasn't meant for and this season he's looked really up for it and could be one of our most consistent players. I think it would make more sense to ship Sammy as he's in the last year of his contract, even though he's playing well. Either way, I can't see either of them leaving with Ras out on loan.

 

The way I read it I don't think he meant he needed to sell to buy because he had no transfer funds left. More a case of he needs to sell in order to buy because the squad is too big.

 

^ Yep, even though we've had that cash injection with McGeady leaving we're hardly loaded and we could do with getting some players who aren't getting game time off the wage bill. It would be best for them and Celtic.

 

tbh seen this coming its not so much the selling imo its the wages the board see as sitting there doing * all but even early on you can see lennon having to tow the party line this is complete * horse * hes paying for their mistakes in the past seasons

 

Loovens and Crosas for me. Happily replace them with a keeper and a striker or two.

 

I only says it as Lennon seemed to be hinting at it after the Utrecht game.

 

do you think the huns have the money after signing jelovic LOL :bbpd:

 

we havent spent more than 7 mill and we have let out a good 13-14 mill and we have no money to spend how embarassing, rangers have spent the same amount as use pretty much

 

honestly if this is the reality of it then i think the celtic support will be well * off they have just watched the huns sign a 4 million pound striker after we have brought in more money than spent and we are being told we must sell tbh this is laughable considering the position they are in finacially compared to us yet we are still short of a gk and another striker honestly

 

i wouldnt mind seeing Loovens going and being replaced by another solid centre half. Also, i think Crosas's time is up sadly. There is not a chance that Lenny will sell Brown, he absolutley loves im (hence why he's captain). Personally i would be very sad to see Fortune go, i think hes got alot more to offfer to the team!

 

It's not money to spend on transfers that's the limiting factor, it's squad size.

At the moment we have a first team squad of 35 - that is too big.