According to Xavi Celtic should go out and buy a player (or two?) that costs treble the amount of money that the club has spent on anyone currently in the squad!
It’s good to be in the thoughts of the Catalan legend but football and business isn’t quite as simple as bringing in a £15m signing to solve Celtic’s European problems.
According to an interview in the Daily Record Xavi has admitted: “Celtic are a club that I have an affection for but if they want to compete in the Champions League they must add more proven quality.
“The transfer market has gone crazy over the last 12 months. Neymar changed everything.
“Not many clubs can spend 100, 150, or even 200 million Euros on a player – but 15-20 ?million Euros needs to be where any club with ambitions, like Celtic, needs to be spending.”
The phrase ‘breaking the bank’ was quite popular in football talk 20 years ago, unfortunately in 2008 a lot of the banks were broken.
Scotland’s own business champion Dave Murray contributed close to £1bn of the debt that formed HM Government to bail out Lloyds TSB with the trail going back to the Edinburgh bankers that couldn’t say no to their blue-eyed boy.
Without reaching the Champions League Celtic has a turnover of around £50m with costs varying between £50-60m. A player sale fills the gap. With the Champions League Celtic tick along nicely able to attract and afford a decent level of player.
Whether Xavi likes it or not a transfer fee of around £5m is about as far as Celtic can stretch with at least the same amount committed again over a three year contract.
Signing a £15m player, or even a cheapo at £10m would require a wage package of £70,000 a week which would destroy the dressing room. Add on at least £1m as a signing on fee.
How do you negotiate with James Forrest, Tom Rogic and Stuart Armstrong when a team mate is picking up close to their monthly wage every week?
Armstrong hasn’t quite been the same since he found out how much his old team-mate Andy Robertson is collecting at Liverpool- imagine the impact of that 200 miles closer to home?
Celtic do have money to spend, investing it in the right areas is the main concern.
Despite having a fairly strong midfield Eboue Kouassi and Olivier Ntcham have been brought in over the last three transfer windows. Plus Charly Musonda.
Those moves have effectively ended the hopes of Liam Henderson, Ryan Christie and Scott Allan. Rogic and Armstrong will also be wondering about their futures.
Until January the defence appeared to have been neglected in terms of transfers but the signings of Jack Hendry and Marvin Compper addressed that. Unfortunately neither featured against Zenit St Petersburg.
When the summer transfer window opens up Brendan Rodgers is likely to focus on his defence but there won’t be a £15m signing, a fifth of the price Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk.
Spending the sell-on fee from van Dijk on a promising 23-year-old in Holland, Belgium or Scandinavia would make sound sense.
But taking Xavi’s suggestion to spend £15m on one player isn’t on, it might not break the bank but it would certainly smash the dressing room to pieces.