GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 02: Celtic announce the signing of Junior Adamu at Lennoxtown Training Centre, on February 02, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic are reported to have paid a loan fee of £432,000 for Junior Adamu.
For £4.3m a permanent deal has been negotiated with Freiburg for the summer.
Celtic announced the signing of Adamu just after 6pm on Transfer Deadline Day.
With Tomas Cvancara making a promising start and Kelechi Iheanacho back from injury Martin O’Neill will have some striking options in the weeks ahead.
ADDING ADAMU
News emerged on Sunday afternoon about Celtic’s interest in Adamu, followed quickly by O’Neill confirming that medicals were underway.
Celtic never made any permanent signings during January but money was spent to bring in the Austrian striker.
Understand Celtic will pay a £432,000 loan fee for Freiburg forward Junior Adamu, with a £4.3m option to buy. https://t.co/Nr3GdrFrWR
— Anthony Joseph (@AnthonyRJoseph) February 3, 2026
Adamu will be expected to train with his new team-mates this morning ahead of Wednesday’s match at Aberdeen.
Over lunch Martin O’Neill will host a media conference where transfer activity and reaction will dominate.
Despite a lack of game time Julian Araujo and Cvancara have come into Celtic and made an instant impact.
Adamu hasn’t had any playing time since December 20 but has been involved in the Freiburg squad until January 25 when he was on the bench against Cologne.
Cvancara started and scored against Falkirk on Sunday with Iheanacho playing the last 10 minutes off the bench.
With Celtic struggling on the right-wing there is the prospect of reverting to playing two strikers, the favoured system of O’Neill when hewas manager more than 20 years ago.
Celtic face constant midweek matches over the coming weeks including Europa League matches against Stuttgart.
Three changes can be made to the Europa League squad. Adamu, Araujo and Cvancara look like being included with Johnny Kenny, Callum Osmand and one other dropping out.
Celtic face Stuttgart on February 19 and 26 with two strikers brought in from Bundesliga clubs added to the squad.
So Celtic has ‘leaked’ that loan fee information – just to prove the Board actually spent something?
From your earlier article:
“…That the model/strategy praised by Dermot Desmond is a complete illusion…”
That’s it right there.
Transfers are not decided by the manager: we saw that with the highly experienced / successful BR, who couldn’t get the ‘quality’ players he repeatedly asked for publicly.
By definition, a business model is not driven by one person:
not the manager, not the Football ‘Director’, not the CEO, not a prominent shareholder, etc.
If any person leaves, the model doesn’t fall apart – it just continues to operate within its parameters. In this case, players of interest are still identified and potential targets are still assessed on an ongoing basis – per the business model.
So, for the January window, the business model should have operated as normal – and regardless of who comes in as the next permanent manager.
BR couldn’t dictate which players came in, so why would any future manager be able to do that within this business model, [and with this Board?]
January window was a flop – and it proves that a business model simply doesn’t exist.
It’s all reactive, q scatter-gun approach / opportunism [?] – and with a bit of panic buying thrown in on the last couple of days of the window.
This January window is further proof that DD, MN and the Board don’t have a Scooby.
The only surprise was that MN didn’t grab that cash for Engels…
Pretty pathetic that is the outlay. Let’s not forget the opportunity to win a ticket to a £40m dividend was available for the right level of investment. This season has Covid Season written all over it. The name on the CEO’s chauffeurs parking space may have changed but it’s still the same person in the office.
Numpty, you’re at a Crossroads, let’s just see how long you last before Miss Dianne and Benny make a reappearance.
Taking a more optimistic view to our transfer window , could it be that there’s a consortium wanting to buy out DD & therefore no monies has been spent to safeguard his share price , conducting such a business transaction would take a bit off negotiating, hence the reason why loans are the only business done , we can only hope ???
Editor: The best way to attract a new backer would be to invest some of the£70m in the bank into the playing squad to win the SPFL title and prepare for Champions League football. The summer rebuild has just become a much bigger task thanks to our inaction man CEO.
Ben Arthur For Walsh is crazy…
Shame Lucan wouldn’t climb it and F*ckin fall off !