Celtic's 2025/26 Summer transfer window: needed and wanted!

Makes you think on the £8m rumour for the 17 year old Serbian defender we got linked to.

These players are going for big money if they are worth it.
We don't doo scouting properly, but it may feel like we stumbled in to a high potential player - question is do we trust our scouting team to have stumbled correctly, or are we getting rinsed with that rumoured figure?

 

Aye 8mil for someone who is truly rated is nothing in football nowadays.

You either pay these types of fees or you stop looking at these types of players.

 

Bingo man
If he is the player we expect to be, then we will easily double that if not triple it in quick time.

 

I guess we expect an immediate first teamer for that kind of money, and rightly so. However, a 17 year-old is perhaps too young to be trusted with being one of the first names on the team sheet. A big club can easily afford to buy him for that fee, and kick him around on loans like a can, to see if he makes it.

 

The success of Ajax and Dortmund tells me otherwise

 

These players can come in and do a job. As long as they have the right attributes then get them playing. There is no real bedding in time at Celtic which doesn't really help.

If we are interested in these players then we need to be prepared to pay the cash.

 

I think you should have a look at the starting ages of some of the Barcelona team mate. 16,17,18,19….. if you’re good enough you play

 

Yup

 

Translated to our example, that would mean pushing some of our academy boys to play with the A team. I'd love to see a manager with the balls to do that.

 

What we should have done with Doak…

 

Mcardle’ definitely good enough to be given regular game time….wont see him again no doubt.
Turley looked a player….never seen again.
Bonnar looked promising….never seen again.

youth not having the quality isn’t an issue for us, it’s just actually continuing to select and play them that we don’t do. If and when Rodgers eventually leaves our next manager should be a manager that guarantees youth opportunity.

 

See the thing is I actually have no confidence there isn’t a Tierney in there. Doak was different but Tierney got his chance by accident as he was deemed 3rd choice youth team left back and a body was needed at first team training. Combined with a long term injury to Izzy.

He took his chance and the rest was history but it wasn’t like the youth coaching staff were saying, hey gaffer you need to take a look at Kieran. Quite the opposite in fact.

Scottish football isn’t doing particularly well at all in terms of young players. See when you see the journey men that just go round half the clubs and keep popping up. Lennon Miller is an anomaly recently amongst a trend to rather loan in players from lower league down south rather than play youth.

 

It blows my mind the reluctance to expose 1 or 2 a year to consistent time from the bench.. over 15 domestic games in 25 we've won by more than 1 goal, opportunities are there

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We don't know if we have the next Tierney or not. I firmly believe that the only true verdict on a player comes from solid game time, which Bonnar, McArdle and others haven't been given. Chances must be taken with these kids. We can afford it. If we're unwilling to give our own players a chance, then there's no way we risk it with a kid from outside our set-up.

Rodgers is the main issue. He's not going to beg the board to splash the cash on Milosavljević. He'll ask for a player in England.

 

If he's talking about after KT then it wouldn't be that surprising, with no high profiles going...

A striker
A winger/who can operate both sides
A centre mid

That would be my guess if he was right and the squad stayed the same (which it won't)..

The young Fulham backup striker
A backup winger for the right
Backup left back
A backup right sided centre half

 

Instead, Rodgers has been clear in his desire to strengthen in two specific areas as soon as possible — wide positions and central midfield. After a season in which squad depth was stretched thin, particularly during European campaigns and injury spells, the manager wants more flexibility and attacking threat in the final third.


Brendan Rodgers is looking to freshen up the squad with at least three new first-team-ready players this summer. Importantly, that figure does not include Kieran Tierney, whose return from Arsenal was confirmed back in January.

 

'at least' might be doing a bit of heavy lifting

I'd imagine the priorities are a winger, midfielder, and striker, and then lower on the list will be a starting center back. Then you take into account players that may leave, whether that's Hatate, Maeda, etc.