The bizarre Celtic v Hearts transfer battle!

There is no doubt that Hearts are having an exceptional season but they aren’t about to get involved in transfer bidding wars with Celtic.

Even with the utterly clueless Michael Nicholson at the heart of negotiations Celtic beat Hearts almost every time for any player given a choice.

There will be a few younger exceptions such as Aaron Hickey who will see an offer from Tynecastle as a far better route into the professional game than wasting away in the Celtic ‘Development’ Squad.

On every other criteria Celtic outscore Hearts.

Celtic’s striking needs are very obvious. As a result of Nicholson’s policy of selling of Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah with Shin Yamada the replacement.

The January transfer window took on a familiar look with Celtic apparently showing interest in Kasper Hogh.

The Danish striker hit an absolute purple patch as Bodo Glimt became the talk of European football.

Racking up wins against Manchester City and Atletico Madrid to reach the Knock Out phase of the Champions League.

Celtic’s ‘interest’ failed to deliver, Hogh and Bodo went on to beat Inter Milan home and away before finally losing out to Sporting Lisbon.

Amazingly transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio has Celtic facing competition from Hearts as they chase the summer signing of the Bodo striker!

Hearts and Celtic have very different transfer strategies.

The Edinburgh side use detailed analysis to identify emerging players.

Celtic rely on favoured agents, recommendations and showing interest in players that are clearly in the shop window.

Covering the thoughts of di Mazio about Hogh, Spilxperten reports

Celtic lead – Hearts try until the end

Right now, both Celtic and Hearts are in a real Scottish dogfight for the league title, with just one point separating the two teams, and the tug of war between the two clubs doesn’t stop there. They are fighting for Kasper Høgh’s signature.

“It is absolutely correct that both Hearts and Celtic really want Kasper Høgh. It is Celtic who are leading the race to buy him, but Hearts really want him too,” Di Marzio begins to SpilXperten and continues:

“As it stands right now, Celtic are leading the race to land Kasper Høgh. I see it as very likely that he could join Celtic during the summer.”

The roles are thus reversed in the race for the Dane versus the current championship race, but Di Marzio states that Hearts will try to get their hands on the Dane until the very end.

“Hearts will continue to insist that they are the right club for him, so they will of course try to persuade both him and the agent until the end, and then the decision is up to Kasper Høgh.”

CLAUDIO BRAGA AND SEBASTIAN TOUNEKTI

Last summer Hearts went deep into the Norwegian Second Division to sign Claudio Braga from Aaledsunds for £500,000.

On Transfer Deadline Day Celtic spent £5m signing Sebastian Tounekti from Hammarby, seven months after they had paid £1.5m for the Tunisian winger.

That explains the differences between the two clubs.

Never in a million years are Hearts going to be spending £5m or more on Hogh alongside the wages expected with that fee.

Despite the brilliant ‘fairy-tale from Gorgie’ Hogh won’t be going to Tynecastle when his profile is at its highest point.

Braga at £5m would be a more likely Celtic signing.

Rather than doing their homework and identifying Hogh or Braga before they hit the spotlight Celtic prefer spending £10m on Tounekti and Michel-Ange Balikwisha.

That followed on two years after signing Luis Palma and Marco Tilio.

With no Head of Football Operations and having previously employed Mark Lawwell and Paul Tisdale there are sound reasons for Celtic fans to dread the summer transfer window.