Celtic Transfers 2024

Does Greg Taylor not exist?

I know Taylor isn't as good as Tierney, obviously, but sometimes players are replaced with different styles. Taylor was excellent 2nd season under Ange and came onto a good game last season too. He's a different player from Tierney, but he's replaced him to a decent standard. Would we all like a better left back at the level of Tierney? ofc! But that's * hard to achieve, he was amazing.

It's like people saying we haven't replaced Wanyama for like 10 years. Should we start saying we never replaced Henrik? Just nonsense really, it doesn't work that way surely?

Also I'm not saying we shouldn't aspire to get better in every position. We should

 

On the night Celtic secured the title last season Brendan Rodgers didn’t sugar-coat his words. When asked for his thoughts on the campaign as a whole, he said it had been "very challenging" and a "little bit tedious". His tone was that of a man who had been through the mill.

Not vintage, he said. And he was right. Celtic lost three games in the league and drew another six. Some of their victories were won late and unconvincingly. There were flickers, but they never really caught fire. And still they won a double.

Celtic Park was full of bitterness and rancour on occasion, but Rodgers navigated his way through it all. They won the league handily in the end. They also won the Scottish Cup.

And yet, for some, the lasting memory might be more about the grind than the glory.

After Rangers blew up during the run-in, the gap at the top settled at eight points, which is more than Ange Postecoglou managed in both of his league-winning seasons.

Reading the tea leaves of the pre-season friendlies, it looks like Rodgers will have an altogether easier time of it in the months ahead.

The Celtic board have, of course, received dog's abuse from fans for the business they've done in recent times - too many projects and not enough first-team ready operators.

Their most recent turnover was £120m and they hold £67.3m in bank reserves. Their advantages over a struggling Rangers are vast. And that’s before you factor in their guaranteed windfall of around £40m in the new-look Champions League.

Rangers have to get through two tough ties to get a piece of that action. The odds are against them.

They won’t say it publicly, but Rangers envy Celtic's player trading model. Over the last dozen years Celtic have brought in transfer fees somewhere north of £170m. On Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk, Stuart Armstrong, Moussa Dembele, Kristoffer Ajer, Odsonne Edouard, Jeremie Frimpong and Jota alone they made a profit of over £80m.

They’ve spent plenty of money on duds, too, but taken as a whole their business has been strong.

Now that they’re holding all the aces on the domestic front, Rodgers, and the supporters, want the board to show a bit more ambition in the market. If not now, when?

Short of getting the words ‘speculate to accumulate’ tattooed on his forehead, Rodgers can't have been any clearer about what he’d like to see next.

They will spend, but will they spend wisely? And how daring will they be?

In domestic terms, Celtic are good enough to win a fourth title in a row just as they are, but parochialism is the enemy of progress. If beating Rangers is all that you’re about then it’s a comfort zone you’re living in - and Rodgers doesn’t want to live in a comfort zone.

The month ahead, before the transfer window closes, represents a chance for Celtic to sign a level of player (nobody is expecting superstars) that will not just put more green water between themselves and their city rivals, but also give them a better shot at improving their European performance, which has been utterly dismal for too long.

The new Champions League format has an increased number of games and a single 36-team group. Celtic will likely have a few more winnable games, but what's winnable in Celtic’s Champions League world?

Under Rodgers they have played 19 group games in the Champions league, winning two, drawing four and losing 12. They’ve scored 15 and have conceded 49. They've won 10 points from a possible 54.

For a club that talks about its European story it’s time they added some new and cheerier chapters.

That goes back to improving the team, not just with Rangers in mind. Celtic will almost certainly win the Premiership and could win it by a large margin, but the big question is what else are they going to do?

Summer games can be an unreliable indication of a team’s worth, but Celtic’s victories over Manchester City and Chelsea (and Rangers’ travails in comparison) were eye-catching. They took Chelsea to the cleaners, winning 4-1 against a group of players signed for around half a billion. They beat City 4-3. Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish both played.

There was a freshness about Celtic in those games that was noticeable. The only new signings they had on show were goalkeepers, but the energy, sharpness and intent was impressive.

Given the shambles across the city, this season already looks like it could be a stroll for the champions.

And that’s before they’ve made any significant moves in the transfer market, which are surely coming soon. Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo are the new goalkeepers, Paulo Bernardo has returned on a permanent deal and the dance with Norwich over Adam Idah continues.

Idah, it’s believed, is desperate to return to Celtic, where he tore it up last season. That deal will probably get done after some more jousting.

Maybe the same could be said about the Matt O'Riley situation, a long-running transfer story that is the footballing equivalent of The Mouse Trap.

O'Riley is the Celtic player trading model in all its glory. Bought for buttons, he’s been outstanding in goals, assists and all-round class. He’s now the subject of multiple bids from the reigning Europa League champions, Atalanta.

They’re reportedly offering £15m. They’ll need to try again. Celtic are pretty adept at getting value for an asset, particularly one they’re in no rush to sell. They’ll win in a football sense if he stays and they’ll win in a financial sense if he leaves.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c87rz2p3k8mo

 

The only posts I saw (and indeed my own posts) said he sent a message in that specific press conference, not that he is sending messages as if it were some kind of regular thing this summer. I don't think anyone thought the message was particularly coded either; certainly, I thought it was quite an explicit message rather than coded in anyway. I also didn't see anyone claim he was conspiring with anyone else to do any of this.

 

Surely to * we'll see movement this week.

 

Well if eating more fibre and taking cod liver oil don't do the trick for you, going into the CL with Taylor and Scales will probably sort it for you, mate.

 

The Kyogo scare near the end should be enough alone for Rodgers to put the pressure on.

 

Idah will be back up striker but hard to break in someone who knows they will be 2nd choice. He will get games though. Think we need to be looking to upgrade for Scales and maybe left wing if he doesn't fancy Palma. Still have Maeda to come back aswell but need that something special to open good teams up

 

Yes, Taylor exists. As do Bolingoli, Laxalt, Bernabei, Gutman and whoever else we’ve thrown money at in the last 5 years as potential solutions. The fact at least three of those left backs were signed since Taylor doesn’t suggest to me that he’s seen as a proper replacement.

The fact you state Taylor has had one good season in that time doesn’t really help your argument. Being a “decent standard” doesn’t equate to properly replacing a quality player either, nowhere near it.

If you think we should be aspiring to a “decent standard” then we obviously have different expectations and aspirations for what our club should realistically be achieving.

 

It’s both ways there is meant to be interest in deals for guys we would want to move on.

- Lagerbielke - 3 Serie A clubs
- Kobayashi - Kashima Antlers
- Lawal - Various Championship/league 1 teams
- Kwon - Stoke (loan)
- Mikey Johnston - various Championship teams

Yet not much coming out to say they deals are moving ahead

 

Saying we haven’t replaced Wanyama is true though. In terms of style, role and quality.

Who was the last proper defensive midfielder we signed who is anywhere close to being a mainstay in the team? And I don’t just mean a 6 foot plus powerhouse like Wanyama.

Since he left our best players in that 6 position have been Brown and McGregor. Two slightly more advanced centre mids who have been converted into defensive midfielders. With the latter not being anywhere near defensively solid enough against top teams.

 

Taylor took time to grow into the role, no doubt, but he's been pretty good. Much better than any of the others you've listed and I fully agree those were all flopped attempts to replace Tierney. Taylor has been pretty nailed-on first choice for atleast a couple of years now. so I think it's safe to say we found a replacement.

He definitely has weaknesses and I've already said I hope for another left back to come in this window, but it was always going to be very difficult to replace Tierney with like-for-like quality. He was generational in Celtic terms.

 

Maybe when we have 100 million in the bank they'll let Brendan sign a few players.

 

I actually agree we never signed a player with the same attributes as Wanyama. My point was more than it's been 10 years so how long do we gove it to say we've not replaced a player?

The reason we haven't replaced Wanyama is because Broony stepped into that defensive role excellently and in more recent times we've really shifted styles to moving the ball out from the back and having a player as comfortable at receiving the ball in those tight spaces like Calmac is pretty important to the style. I don't actually think Ange or Rodgers current style would suit Wanyama much.

We can all debate whether we should have that type though. Its a nice option to have for solidity in Europe. But I think someone with alot of energy and speed could be just as effective.

 

Ralston has interest from Sheffield Utd

 

Welsh also had interest too but I am meaning the ones we are looking to move on. I don’t think we are looking to live Ralston on, it would only be if he wanted to go.

As we also have Hatate and O’Riley having interest in them, CCV will have and A Johnston probably does too. Not to mention the Kyogo agent switch too.

 

Taylor has only been nailed-on first choice by default and through the failure of other players though (as well as our failed recruitment).

I’d also argue that Taylor never took time to grow into the role at all - he doesn’t suit the role he was signed to play or the role of left back under the current manager. It’s no coincidence that his good season came playing a totally different style and role.

I actually like Taylor - he’s an honest hard working professional - but the fact you’re admitting you want us to sign an upgrade this summer just highlights that Tierney still hasn’t been properly replaced. I’m not even saying we need a Tierney standard of player; there’s a huge huge gap between that standard and Taylor.

We need a better left back and I hope Taylor is happy to stick around as a more than adequate back up, but if not I’d wish him well.

 

Agree with this. Fans always talk about a like for like replacement, but football rarely works that way outwith the super clubs.

The one exception for me is Wanyama. An out and out natural DM is a very specialist role, and we haven’t played with one since he left, imo.

Edit - see that’s been covered already.

 

Think we'd be stupid to move Ralston on to be honest. He's club grown and I think more than good enough to be our back up right back. I'm fairly confident he will play well, at least in the league and cup matches.

 

if greg taylor is the best lb we can ever hope for then why the * has he not got a new contract sorted

 

A massive last 3 weeks of the window coming up. Still woefully short of the quality needed and stated by the manager. And Brighton are in talks about buying O'Riley. We need to start forcing the issue wi our top targets, cannot afford to sit wi all our eggs in the one basket so to speak.