Who'll be in Neil Lennon's clear out?
At present we have confirmed the signings of Kelvin Wilson (25), Adam Matthews (19) and Victor Wanyama (20) – two free transfers and one estimated at around £900,000.
Obviously, the performances of Emilio Izaguirre and Biram Kayal last season has shown us that there are gems out there to be found but are the new bhoys being signed as starters or as squad players for the future?
My feeling is that Wilson will probably be seen as a first choice centre half. As for the other two, Matthews faces the task of displacing Mark Wilson whose stock rose immensely last season and Wanyama will try to get into the area of the team where we are strongest.
A goalkeeper and a centre forward are seen as crucial signings by the majority of the support but given the increasing size of Celtic’s squad surely exits are necessary in order to provide funds for the right quality of player to be bought.
As I understand it, and I may be wrong here, only Fraser Forster and Paul McGowan have officially left the club from last year’s squad. Oh aye, and Freddie Ljungberg- remember him?
But who should go and how much could we expect to recoup for them? Everyone has their opinion on this and I don’t rate mine as any higher than anyone else’s but I think we could sell an entire team and with a few decent replacements it won’t effect the squad too much.
Assuming the following is our strongest eleven at present:
Zaluska:M Wilson, K Wilson, Mulgrew, Izzy: Brown, Kayal, Ledley, Commons: Hooper, Stokes
Here is an entire team that could feasibly be sold:
Cervi:Cha, Loovens, Hooiveld, O’Dea: McGinn, Juarez, Maloney:
Murphy, Rasmussen, Samaras
We also have players like Matthews, Wanyama, Ki Sung Yeung, Dan Majstorovic, Paddy McCourt, Thomas Rogne, James Forrest and Richie Towell, among others, to be considered. I’d be interested to see what Celtic ‘team’ you’d sell on. Leave a comment and let us know.
I’m not suggesting there aren’t some good players in the team I’d let leave and for some it’s a mystery as to why it didn’t work out but the reality is we currently have around thirty first team players. That is surely too many.
I realise we want to get away from the constant turnover of players but I’d like to see us settle on more quality rather than quantity. Quality players will cost money but with some sensible dealings we can use our currently bloated squad to generate a decent amount of money.
You see, I think there is a danger of complacency yet again. We look at Rangers and laugh at their situation but how much has it really changed since this time last year? They have pretty much retained their (league winning) squad – that hurt!! Allan McGregor and Steven Whittaker have just signed Jim McLean type contracts and, before we all guffaw and dismiss them as average players, let’s remember the pain of the last three seasons.
OK, so The Myth has gone and Ally McCoist is in charge but to dismiss his credentials is to fall right into the media trap. He has been there for a while, knows what is needed and has just as much passion for them as Lenny has for us. He has many contacts down south from his media days and I expect a few decent loan signings. The rumour is that Harry Redknapp will be sending a few Spurs players up.
My point is that while I have confidence that our manager and scouts have picked up some good players in Wilson, Matthews and Wanyama, I believe it is essential we trim the squad and use transfer fees and freed up wages to get in some established names as well as the players for the future. Making a profit on players is all well and good but, as Lennon himself has stated, the league must be won this year.
Your thoughts, please.
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