The January Transfer Window 2021-2022

Ange Postecoglou admitted he is being given every support by the club in his bid to strengthen the Celtic squad in January.

And the Hoops boss said some players will be heading for a permanent Parkhead exit with others going out on loan next month.

Postecoglou says he is pleased with the progress made and squad building since arriving this summer.

But the Aussie knew in the summer that he needed more despite bringing in 12 players as he confessed it would have been too much to bring in any more than a dozen at the one time.

Reo Hatate already looks certain to arrive from the J-League market the Celtic boss knows so well.

Ahead of the visit of Hearts to Parkhead, Postecoglou said: “I still think we need more as squad-wise, we are not where we want to be.

“It’s only natural that we wouldn’t be. We’ve added 12 players and it would have been too much to bring in any more than that.

“I knew at the end of the transfer window that it still wasn’t enough. Nothing has changed although I’m really pleased we have managed to get through this period thus far.

“We’ve got a lot of games to go and most of the players are up and running and available.

“We are starting to get to a good level. The resilience we showed coming back from Germany and playing three days later is a good sign for the team as well.

“My view is that we can still improve the squad and we want to improve the squad in January and the club is supporting me in that.

“Some guys will be going on loan and some will be moving out, that’s only natural as everything progresses.

“Some of that will depend on the players themselves and where they feel they are at.

“Circumstances change and I expect some players will be moving on.”

 

talk is cheap ,theres an awful lot of money from last years player sales to be reinvested .of the 12 players 6 of them play regularly and two of them are on loan .mccarthy and giakomakis look to be squad fillers and * knows why the four were signed .with how badly depleted the squad was its quite clear we need some first team ready players in, no projects no squad fillers

 

Looks like Ange is, perhaps silently, swing the axe.

As usual, a very succinct and deliberate comment about departures.

The question for me is, is it people who aren't good enough, or people who don't wanna be here?

Either way... Get them out the door.

This season and next are not seasons for passengers and squad fillers.

 

If everyone in the current squad was fit, I’d say our best team looks like this:

Hart

Juranovic CCV Jullien Taylor

McGregor

Rogic Turnbull

Forrest Kyogo Jota
​

Looking at that it’s pretty clear what areas need strengthened in the XI. LB and CAM are the two for me that stick out.

I’m not convinced Turnbull is good enough to be starting week in, week out and although Rogic has been good this season his injury record is a worry.

Whether we like or not, Taylor is probably our first choice LB. Yes, Juranovic is better than him 100% but he’s not a LB. So we definitely need a major upgrade here.

Then the rest is all about depth for me: ST, CM, Winger.

 

Anyone overlooking Ralston now is just at it, even though Jura is out of position at the minute Ralston has done more to merit a start than him. Ralston is our right back now.
Agree with the rest though

 

Yip but come january hopefully it is;

————————hart————————-
Ralston—ccv—————jullien——new lb
———————mcgregor————————
———hatate———————rogic—————
Forrest————-kyogo—————-jota——

juranovic and ralston can rotate, starfelt and welsh giving defensive cover and turnbull gets a break.

would also love to see a bit off experimentation regarding the formation.

—————————hart—————————-
Juranovic——-ccv———-starfelt—new lb
————————-mcgregor———————-
Forrest—————rogic—————-jota——
——————kyogo———-maeda—————

plenty of pace in that side, could swap up rogic for hatate.

 

On Form and consistency, Ralston is behind only Jota! Madness seeing some people placing Juri in there when hes been firing for us.

 

I would think the 12 he signed are happy here as they signed and wanted to be here so with some luck its all squad players who are just not good enough for the first 11 and some younger guys who have been here for years and simply made no progress.

 

Right, I know how this would normally sound, I'm fully aware the initial reaction would be to shoot this down and laugh it off as pie in the sky....but.... Hear me out lads....


We need another midfielder, we need two actually.
We need experience in there. We need someone quick on the ball, quick to get the ball forward. Pace would be brilliant, strong and box to box, but it's not the only quality we could do with.

So...
January, Japanese league comes to a close, there is a certain player there with two years still on his contract who is very familiar, fond and knows one of our players very well.

Would it be such a stretch at 37, with still a couple of good years in him yet, to actually approach Iniesta?



Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

Guy is reportedly on €25m+ a year over there

 

Honestly cannot come soon enough, squad depth is so light atm.

Need a winger, 2 midfielders and a LB. Another ST wouldn't go amiss either.

 

The January transfer window the emphasis has to be quality over quality. For me priority would be as follows.
1. Box to box all round midfielder. Need to replace Christie and someone similar with more defenceive awareness would be perfect.
2. Striker to back up Kyogo. Fellow Japanese boy Maeda looks perfect for the role. Probably look to move on Ajeti.
3. Left back. Again Hatate looks to fit the mold.
4. Holding midfielder with a real physical presence would be perfect.

Like i said though I think quality is the main concern and I would hapily see only the top two priorities filled if they are quality first team acquisitions.

 

480k a week?
I'd be surprised, very surprised if it was even half that.

We take their best striker as well and his demands surely would be higher than we could afford?

If he is still on that, then obviously no chance he would be coming here. But I'd have thought he would have been on a more sensible wage level being in Japan and his age etc

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

Widely reported that he’s on €25m+, as unbelievable as it is. You can see from the second link why Kyogo was happy to leave

Warning: 3rd link is the Sun.

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2018052401393/amp/

https://nbakki.hatenablog.com/entry/Salaries_of_JLeague_Vissel_Kobe_Players_in_2019

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www...niesta-cheque-vissel-kobe-japan-football/amp/

 

Honestly quite astonished by that.

Specially when you see the salary difference between the players.

Mental.


But aye, scratch my pie in the sky suggestion then.
Honestly thought he would have been on a more sensible 40k a week or something there.

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

It’s a salary cap league except for marquee players. Crazy money but they think he’s worth it. Think his team by finishing 3rd this year have made the playoffs for the Asian Champions League, although they think his credibility bringing attention to the league, is worth a * load.

 

Yeah can imagine names like Iniesta, podoldski, David villa etc are gonna be big draws from a marketing perspective.



Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

Most big names go to China but this was a statement signing to say we are still the best Asian league.

As great as these names are, still think Celtic and the rough and tumble of the SPL is beyond them at the back end of their careers. They are past getting hacked by lumberjacks and plumbers of the SPL, they’d much rather be bowed to or 100 apologies for daring to tackle them in the J-League

 

He’s not on a sensible wage it is around the figure stated above, he is by a very long way the top paid player in the league (over £21m a year). Vermaelen is next on about £5.5m a year and then it drops off considerably to less than half that. Most of the young talent in the league are on very modest wages for professional players.

 

100% we both want the same thing but if the latter was to happen and they don’t sign, I bet the board wouldn’t have any replacements ready in case.