[Link] Baba Diawara

Yes, because every player can afford to turn down big moves to a club like Celtic, especially at such a young stage of their career.

The weather over here hasn't affected foreign players in the past and to use some more recent examples, it never affected the likes of Naka, Wanyama and Ki.

 

it's undoubtedly better than the SPL. if FCP, SLB or SCP come in for him he'll stay in portugal imo

 

It's also a chance to get yourself noticed to the clubs in the EPL (cynical as it is)

 

This would suggest that the majority of EPL clubs are happy to look at players who dont cost the earth.

http://www.soccernews.com/soccer-transfers/english-premier-league-transfers/

Again, similar to Bangura and Rasmussen he comes as a potential signing, but its not someone I can get too excited about. His record is ok, he hasnt played that much international football and thats about it.

Saddening to see that Steven Fletcher, a player we missed out on (I know, shouldnt go on about it) a few seasons ago is now being touted by his boss as a target for big clubs.

But then, the majority of fans, managers, players etc knew that he was a good player and that spending the money on him wouldnt be a gamble. Also we would more than likely have recouped a big transfer fee when the EPL came calling for him.

Anyway, still hope we make one or two signings in Jan, think we will need them to bring the title home.

 

Not so sure about SCP they're * mince. Don't know if Porto or Benfica would or are interested though.

 

Might not be the super star we all want but he'll score goals here. Don't think we'll need to fight to sign him with LiverpOOl or anything like that but any of the English diddy teams could easily outbid us.

gOOd chance of getting him, but don't over hype him just yet Might be no better than stOOper.

 

thats just an ignorant statement, there weren't EPL scouts in for Izzy or Kayal and they proved to be good signings. By your logic we would never get a player that epl teams are after but Wanyama was wanted by Villa and Lustig was wanted by Fulham and yet they chose to come here. I agree with you that any signing is a gamble and if he indeed signs he may not pan out but he is top goalscorer in a decent league and I for one would rather sign a "foreign gamble" rather than average spl or championship strikers.

 

Definitely, the Portuguese league may not be one of the strongest leagues in Europe but it is still of a high quality and for a player who plays for Maritimo who aren't even considered in the top 4 of that league to be the top scorer I think we would be crazy not to buy him especially if all this first refusal stuff is true, at £3 million it seems very cheap.

Give them the £3million and run, imo in a year he will be worth double that.

 

hes wot we need get him

 

he doesnt play CB though

 

SCP are better than us. Got some class players.

 

His record in Portugal is really good. Its not a very high scoring League yet he has 36 goals in 99 games there with Maritimo. Hulk has 43 goals in 81 games with Porto who usually score near double the goals of Maritimo. Saviola has 23 goals in 60 games. Even Nuno Gomes most recent best seasons 2002-2006 scored 38 goals in 100 games for Benfica. Even Edgar Silva one of the best scorers there in recent years has 33 goals in 75 games. Lisandro now of Lyon doing really well in France scored 46 goals in 109 games at Porto.

Even Liedson who was one of the top scorers there for years only ever managed to score over 17 goals once in 8 seasons and the recent top scorer Cardozo has only ever scored more that 17 goals once in 4 full seasons so far.

The Portuguese League isnt a League were players score 20 a season, its only one off seasons that someone manages it. A player getting 12 goals a season in Portugal especially not for the top 2/3 teams is doing great.

 

I agree they probably are. But we'd definitely beat them at home.

We'd have hammered the SCP team last year but that the huns were playing, they were shockingly bad for the money they spent but tbh they did lose moutinho and veloso.

They've had some really bad luck with signings not turning out to be what they expected for the price tags etc but their team just now looks pretty good.

We should definitely be better than teams like them but. Sporting are a nothing club compared to us. They're so lucky they get the south american (brazilian) pull of players really easily, it definitely helps them out e.g when the players get sold on for big pricetags, means they can spend more in the transfer market than us and usually do better in europe.

 

We need a target man aswell.

There's a couple of things we could do with just now.

 

I've always liked their striker Yannick Djao, always thought he would be excellent for us.

 

For every Izzy and Kayal mate, we can point to Rasmussen and Bangura (so far), also throw in Braafheid, Loovens (dont argue, he is pish), Efrain Juarez and El Kaddouri. So the foreign gamble, is just that. There are many others as well. My logic isnt that we cant get players that EPL teams are after, (Did I say that?). I was simply saying that if he is doing so well in a high profile league then why is there such little interest?

Wanyama seemed a good signing, and Lustig possibly as well. So that kind of goes against your own argument there.

Your last point is where you show your own ignorance though mate. Some of our best players this season have been from the lower English leagues. Hooper, Adam Matthews, Joe Ledley and Kelvin Wilson and cant be classed as average. Stokes came from Hibs and Mulgrew returned from Aberdeen.

These players are succeeding because they play in a similar league, style and climate. Personally I would like us to sign more british type players, from Scotland as well, and pad it out with a few top quality signings.

Diawara may turn out to be a fantastic player, and if we sign him, I hope he does, but they will want a decent signing fee for him. We have already shelled out a wad for Bangura, if we had waited and pooled the money for him and Diawara we would be able to speculate at a higher level of player.

 

Maybe i misinterpreted your statement, i thought you were trying to say that if he was decent he would be going to the epl. Still an ignorant statement though, there are plenty of good players who aren't being followed by epl teams and could improve us.

I think you misinterpreted my statement, I have no problem signing exceptional championship players like Hooper or Ledley. I also have no problem with youth signings like Matthews. What I don't want is the John Sutton's, David goodwillie's, and Scott Allan's of the world coming to celtic just because they are Scottish and play in the spl. I think Kelvin Wilson is a perfect example of the kind of player I don't want, a very average centerhalf who would probably be classed as average in the championship.

I think if celtic followed your business plan we would be in a bad state, not many players who would improve our team play in Scotland. imo we should bring scots into our team through the youth setup and focus on spending our money far afield where good players can be had for reasoneable prices.

 

word on orther celtic websites is that the portuguese tv today maritimo president says theyve signed contract with us re diawara

 

Heres hoping this happens not getting my hopes up though.

 

He has been linked with Wolfsburg and Hannover today too and has a €10million release clause.