Chris Sutton is getting worried about the lack of Celtic’s transfer activity with the expected departure of Oh Hyeon-gyu leaving Brendan Rodgers with just one striker.
Pre-season training starts on Monday for the non-internationalists with two friendlies against Ayr United and Queens Park in the first week of July before three high profile friendlies in the USA starting with a match against DC United on July 21 against DC United.
Rodgers will take his squad out a few days before that match with fans looking out for the list of players on the flight. As it stands Joe Hart, Paulo Bernardo and Adam Idah will be missing from the players that lifted the Scottish Cup a month ago.
Recruitment at Celtic remains something of a mystery, at the start of March the club announced the departures of Mark Lawwell and Joe Sturgeon but there has been no follow up, no replacements or detail on a restructuring.
Most fans assume that Rodgers is now driving recruitment but after a highly intensive 11 months in the spotlight the Irishman is deserving of his summer break with others at the club stepping up to the task.
Oh seems to be well on the way to joining Belgian side Genk, leaving another hole in the Celtic squad with Sutton spelling out his concerns in the Daily Record:
It’s all quiet at Parkhead on the transfer front but they can’t allow the summer to drift as there’s work to be done. Rodgers will know what he needs but he can add another striker to his shopping list as it looks like Oh Hyeon-gyu is on his way out. I actually think it’s a bit of a shame if he goes as there is a player there. Oh is raw and there is development needed.
But he has a lot of tools and I like him as an alternative to Kyogo. He was overtaken by Idah in the second half of the season but he’s similar in some ways to the Norwich man in that he’s physical and can be a focal point.
Clearly Rodgers isn’t so sure – and that’s fair enough. He sees the player every day in training and it’s entirely up to him but letting Oh go means Celtic are going to be in the market for TWO new strikers. Kyogo is going to be the main man. And talk about him needing shoulder surgery at some point seems to have gone quiet.
He managed to get through the season without much injury fuss so it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a pressing matter in the new campaign. But getting him help up-front is. Oh’s departure will ramp up the importance of landing Idah.
That’s not a formality but even if they do get him back, Celtic will need another forward as well. They’ll need three – maybe even four – strikers to fight on four fronts next term. Every side is on the lookout for strikers and sometimes you need to be patient. But Celtic also can’t afford to dither. If they can’t get first targets, move on to the next ones. They fly out to the US in the middle of July and Rodgers will be desperate to have some new faces on the plane.
It looks like there will be no new signings at training on Monday, the next date that fans will be looking for is July 5 and the friendly away to Ayr United.
The final pre-season match is against Chelsea on July 27 with the SPFL campaign scheduled to start on August 3 with the fixtures announced on Thursday.
I live in hope that Celtic will announce signings on the first of July as this is the start of a new financial year for the club. That was when Jota was announced.
That may assist in UEFA’s financial rules, however my underlying concern like most fans is that this window will just be more of the same: no real ambition shown, just keeping us half a step in front of The Rangers while money sits in the bank and the likelihood of one or two of our more important players being sold at the last minute leaving us woefully prepared for the rigours of the upcoming season.
Joe it’s starting to have a all too familiar ring about it. We scraped thru last season and done well under the circumstances. Think most fans breathed a sigh of relief when the season finished . We are cash rich and all talk was of bringing in quality players ….most fans fall for it every season but we keep forgetting that behind the scenes Celtic is run by aging men with little or no ambition other than keeping our noses just in front of Rangers.
We the fans have outgrown that and aspire to be a little better than that. Hopefully I’m proved wrong but I can see the next excuse coming along….the players we are interested in have been in the Euros and before we know it we are running around at the last minute desperate to make any kind of signing. As for “Oh” keep him til we definitely have a replacement. We are doing it the wrong way round !
Editor: We have low expectations from a club that puts Lawwell and Nicholson in executive positions. We have to hope Brendan shames them into doing a competent job, shifting the £190 Champions League package with the current squad plus more projects could be a stretch too far.
If there is no serious spending of money this
Summer they can whistle for my CL ticket cash.
Lets be clear hear, no one is expecting the club to spend our entire cash reserves but a net spend of £20M leaves arguably £40M still in the bank.
The constant use of the phrase “Well look what happened across the city”” doesn’t wash.
They spent money they didn’t have, we won’t spend the money we do have.
Far be it for me to defend the Club’s hierarchy..who…for the avoidance of doubt ….I have no time for whatsoever…But there are two situations which need addressed…First up…We have too many players as it is…and I would have thought that we have to move at least 4 or 5 out the door to make way for new signings…That,to me, is a priority…Second …The new CL squad rules put a different pressure on us regarding balance…and that will take a fair bit of juggling….So while I’m as anxious as everyone else …I think my two points are causing problems…but we can only wait…and hope…Hail hail.
Meant to say…Whit eejit arranged a game against Sevco London…or Chelsea as they’re better known ??…This is a crazy fixture and has trouble written all over it.
I fear this will be another tumbleweed window,especially now with the chaos across the city,no way our board will put the boot into their business partners when they are in trouble.It will I think be more loans and last minute cheap deals on deadline day.
Am sorry oh was let go there defo is a player there and to soon to let him move on we need cover for the wee fellah and more. 4 strikers for me especially for cl and world cup quals ect cover cover cover same with goalie same with lb with mids we are pretty ok like the national team most teams seem to have surpluses and i dont know why that is conzidering the shape rarely changes from 3 basics but what would i know.
As i said beford the euros are on and club leve backup wont put pen to paper in case the intl guy gets wiped and the backup needs to step up. Once the euros are over expect a rush
In this age of Information and Communication, the usual from the Club. Nothing!
No glance forward to the Champions Legue. No news of transfers.
The expectations of supporters appear to be being taken for granted!
Say what you want about Sevco (and there’s libraries and vaults of negativity to be said about them) but by fuck, they know how to operate swiftly in The Transfer Market…
Ok – it might be freebies, it might be to pacify their rabid, demanding and wholly unrealistic fans, but they certainly don’t hang about for sure…
I don’t often praise that mob but credit where credit is due they are quick off the mark regarding that division even if it proves to be a waste of their supporters hard earned money as it was last season !