Celtic 25/26 Summer transfer window: Stage: Nicholson firing up the Fax Machine

Bowie is a player. He's very intelligent on and off the ball. He's a unit with an aerial threat. Technically skilful. And he's only going to get better. It will be a John McGinn situation. He'll be a striker for an English mid table premier league club within the next 2 years.

Having said that, we also need a striker of pedigree to lead the line. We need both.

 

I think saying he'll be a striker for a mid table EPL striker in a few years time is some stretch. He's 23 in a few weeks and he's playing at Hibs.

The level of hype around Bowie now is something else. If he scores 20 goals plus for Hibs next season it will be Celtic, Rangers, English Championship clubs and a few lower half German, Spanish, Italian clubs who will be sniffing around for him.

That's if he goes onto to have a breakout season this year, which is he yet to do?

Where on earth is all this hype coming from? From the goal against Partizan? Some goal but Simon Murray scored a few crackers last season too.

 

Why would he be out of our range? Players from any other SPL club will never be out of our range. The record sale outside Celtic and Rangers is Miovski.

He has potential, that is it - let him at least put a full season together rather than a few decent games. He has an inferior scoring record to Johnny Kenny (who a lot of our fans think is rubbish) and is 9 months older than him.

 

We also have limited space for European registration. It will be 2 players tops on after Saracchi.

 

Tounketi and Boving in and Yang and Idah out I could take.

Boving can play through the middle and out wide so can serve two roles there.

Tounekti, Balikwisha, Maeda, Bocving, Nygren and Forrest for the wings.

Boving, Maeda, Shin and Kenny for up top.

I'm just not sold on Dolberg. Think people are bought in by the fact he was so highly rated as a youngster, he's 28 in a few months and has hopped about without ever pulling up any trees. Boving looks to have much more about him.

 

My personal hype is just coming from watching him. I think he's taken a while to develop, similar to other strikers like Kane and Vardy. But he's there now. And his number one attribute as a forward is his intelligence and calmness.

He brings much more than just goals too. His movement and hold up play are very good and a key factor in Hibs being able to compete with Partizan, Mitylland and Warsaw.

His goal against Partizan was class, but it also speaks to him being a big moment player. Someone with the balls to try that, Idah would have chested it down and played it back to * Kasper or Ralston.

 

I think that was less to do with being outwith our financial range and more to do with him seeing a better career path abroad tbh.

His fee was £4.5m and wages will likely be similar to what we paid to Turnbull. He just backs himself to show himself in a better standard league and seeing the likes of Lewis Ferguson, Hickey etc. having success in Italy I don't blame him.

 

That's fair but it's based off a few games this season. All it is at the minute is potential, he hasn't backed it up consistently and I'd be very wary about paying the £5m or so Hibs will probably want now on the basis of a few decent performances and a wonder goal he will probably never score the like of again.

 

He wasn't, he cost less than Balikwisha, Engels, Idah, Trusty and Jota who we have all signed in the past year. He just wanted to move abroad rather than come to Celtic.

Going back to last season he scored 6 goals in 18 league game in an injury interrupted season. Let's see if he's capable of staying fit this season and if he's capable of hitting 15+ SPL goals. We will have the finances to compete with anyone else interested in him but he has not done enough to secure a move to Celtic yet at the figures quoted.

 

I know, been spouting it for days.

 

Think Hibs will want £7-8m for Bowie so doubt we'll get him. He works his * off as well which is a big part of his game. Stats can only tell you so much.

 

That's some take.

Questioning whether a soon to be 23 year old striker who has never scored double figures in a season in his career and who the highest level he has played in the SPL may not be the answer to our striking issues, is talking pish?

I would consider the other to be talking pish. We have Kenny and Yamada who are very much unproven quantities in our attack right now and thinking do we really need another one?

Only in our support could you have people writing off a 22 year old striker with 2 goals in 266 minutes of competitive football as rubbish while pinpointing Kieron Bowie as the answer to our problems.

 

Kenny also works his * off but is deemed rubbish by the majority of our support.
Kenny is a year younger and has more goals than Bowie.

So how can Kenny be rubbish and not good enough for Celtic but Bowie is the answer?

Let Bowie prove himself first before we move for him.

Let Kenny have a proper chance before we judge him.

It's the blatant double standards here.

 

I mean he's got some decent stats and don't think he was at the top clubs in their respective leagues. I might be wrong. I haven't watched any footage of him, but to be honest I hate doing that, as it is often not reflective of the player. However, many have said his link-up play is lightyears ahead of what we have and had in Idah's case. It's been so long since we had a proper striker that can link the play.

Edit - and this is this season so far

 

Look I'm not saying he's a diddy or anything. I'm sure he'll be better than Idah but I'd just have a few reservations. Penalties can pad a lot of stats there. Think its 8/9 of those goals for Anderlecht in the Belgian league are from the spot which makes a lot less impressive reading for a striker.

He will have his plus points in that he's seemingly a good finisher and good technically but is he aggressive enough, is he mobile enough, is he good at pressing from the front?

I think we can do better. Would Strelec or the Romanian guy be a better option?

I'd be happy to go with Maeda up front as our no 1 striker with Yamada and Kenny in reserve and invest in two quality wingers than investing in another winger and striker personally. We saw how good Maeda can be through the middle for us last season and I think when we get some proper flair and pace and creativity on the wings Maeda would score a barrowload.

 

After losing a penalty shootout and our main striker missing a penalty, I think having someone who can consistently score penalties would be pretty great right now, no?

 

I just can't with Daizen at the moment. He looks mile off it and his touch is always a roll of the dice - DnD die with about 40 sides. He's had about 4 1-on-1s in recent games and has fluffed his lines completely each time. He CANNOT be the striker for me. We need actual footballers, who can control the * ball. There is no point having 80% possession if when it gets to the final third you are praying Maeda, Idah and Yang can suddenly become a footballer for the few brief seconds they have the ball. Kairat proved that.

Edit - and re the Romanian guy - I think his team's CEO or whatever is an utter basketcase. No point trying to deal with him by the looks of it.

 

We have someone who consistently scores penalties in our team. We shouldn't be going to penalty shootouts and chances are if Dolberg is our starting striker he won't be on the pitch at 120 minutes as he will have been hooked for fresh legs.