thatās a great bit of business for Celtic
Iād interested to hear fulvios thoughts
Heās also reporting that Moritz Jenz could be away to a German club. Celtic have an option to buy at the end of the season long loan but he hasnāt been amazing or anything. Did okay when filling in for Starfelt but hasnāt been involved at all for a good while. Kobayashi also got the start when CCV was injured the other night.
Rogic only a last 15 min sub for WBA.
I would have thought that they would have got far more for him.
Is he in the final year of his contract?
Giakoumakis wasnāt in the squad today either. It looks like these two will be away. Johnston is already in as a right back replacement and the South Korean chap is seemingly being lined up as another forward option.
The rumour is Oh and one more. Possibly Cho.
no he got a 5 year deal I think. so he would have had 2 left. 5 mil profit isnāt bad up front and add ons could make it 7.5 clean profitā¦ itās very rare you get profit like that on a player. Itās good business I think. heās 27 now and if they kept him heād probably want a bigger wage and itās an awkard age for getting another couple years and then losing money on him potentially as heād be 31/32.
1 Like
Union Berlin a better move than Monza in fairness. He came, he did well, he gave the club a healthy profit and his replacement is already up and running. Thatās the way it is for clubs outside the big leagues these days.
2 Likes
Oh, yes!
2 Likes
Jenz announced his departure on Instagram - it doesnāt seem to be embedding for me here. Ange is fairly ruthless when he thinks other players can serve us better, which is a good thing.
Oliver Abildgaard is close to sealing his move from Celtic to Aalborg.
The Danish midfielder is on the verge of finalising a switch to his homeland on an agreement until the end of the season.
Abildgaard has rarely featured for Ange Postecoglou since signing from Rubin Kazan.
Aalborg chiefs are ready to make the 26-year-old one of their top-paid players to secure a transfer.
Sources in Denmark have confirmed Celtic will cancel their agreement with Abildgaard to push the deal through and it is likely to be concluded shortly.
Sporting Director Thomas Bealum is set to beat off competition to deliver manager Erik Hamren the player in a huge deal for the North Jutland outfit.
Abildgaard gone to Hellas Verona.
Transfer business is something that Ange Postecoglou has always taken very seriously.
Working with some small budgets during his time as a No.1 throughout his career, itās easy to see why the Australian is now enjoying the money Celtic have at their disposal when it comes to the market.
Since his arrival in the summer of 2021, the Scottish champions have spent in the ballpark of Ā£40million. Of course, the net spend is actually a lot lower due to the sales of the likes of Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard and more recently, Josip Juranovic.
Like most managers involved in the game, Postecoglou feels the summer and winter windows can be a draining time, when in reality theyād much rather actually focus on purely footballing matters.
But with Alistair Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Tomoki Iwata and Oh Hyeon-guy all in the building, itās very much a case of all the hard work thatās gone into such deals has been worth it.
āItās important to this football club that we run a sustainable model,ā said Postecoglou. āItās not unique to us. In terms of clubs our size thatās what they do.
āItās not about just spending money, itās about spending money we have brought in and being strategic about it.
āIf we were bringing in players who werenāt increasing in value then we wouldnāt be able to reinvest that into players to replace them.
āAll those things have a knock-on effect and when you look at our current squad we have a great deal of value in that squad.
āIf we do have to replace someone, we will have the funds to replace them with a good player and I think thatās important.
āItās not about how much we spend, itās what we spend it on. Thatās much more important because I take that responsibility very seriously. We are not spending money we donāt have.
āThroughout supporters or throughout sponsorships or through our player sales, itās all money thatās hard-earned. Itās not just given to us. We donāt just have a benefactor throwing money at us.
āSo, itās important that that money is spent wisely. I think weāve done that in the time Iāve been here and weāll continue to do that.ā
Elaborating on his first dealings with football transfers, the Aussie looked back fondly to his time at South Melbourne.
He continued: āI think we spent a club record fee of $5000! We got a player from a rival and I remember we did the deal in the back of the presidentās car after weād picked him up from his house!
āDonāt ask me his name. It was like when I came here to Celtic - we did about seven or eight signings in two weeks. But yeah, things have changed.
āThinking of my background, Iāve worked at clubs with fairly low budgets which would probably surprise people working here.
āBut even back then I took that part of the role seriously.
āItās about how you spend your money, whether thatās a small amount of a large amount.
āLook, when we were starting in the A-League we had a salary cap where we all spent the same which made it more of a challenge.
āIf I spent my quid better than you spent your quid then Iād win the league. So, Iāve always taken that part of the job seriously.ā
In terms of outgoings at the club, Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis are the headline names.
The former left last week to make way for Union Berlin in the Bundesliga. His move earned the Hoops around Ā£10million for the World Cup right-back.
On Giakoumakis, his deadline day switch to Atlanta is believed to have pocketed the Hoops around Ā£4million. While itās not a great deal more than they paid for him only 18-months-ago, itās still a profit.
It will take some time before all four of the clubās new boys settle in fully. And for that reason, itās difficult to gage whether Celtic are in a stronger position coming out of January than they were heading into the month.
Postecoglou added: āTime will tell. In terms of our objectives going into this window I thought there were a couple of opportunities to strengthen the squad. Particularly with players identified early.
āWe also knew that, more than likely, we would have a couple of exits in potentially key players like Josip and Giakoumakis.
āSo, I certainly didnāt want to be sitting here on deadline day sweating over exits of guys like Josip or Giakoumakis without having identified replacements.
āThe fact we have them already puts us in a really good position.
āWith Josip and Giako going out we have brought in four players under the age of 24 for less money than we have brought in, so from that point of view we have achieved our objective.
āIf they contribute to the level I think they can then I believe we will come out stronger.ā
If anyone figured that Postecoglou would be bothered by any other clubās business, particularly on deadline day, then their fingers couldnāt be further from the pulse.
In fact, the Aussie joked that most of the time he doesnāt even want to have to deal with the ins and outs his own clubās dealings.
He said: āIf I didnāt need to think about our own transfers, Iād be happy, mate, let alone think about somebody elseās.
āNo, what I think is important is looking at our place and what weāre doing.
āWe had some clear strategic objectives in this window and Iām pleased to say from my perspective anyway that everything we wanted to get done got done.
āI think that just shows weāre all aligned. What happens at other clubs doesnāt really affect us.ā
1 Like
Iām going to miss big Gio ā¦ he really brought something different to Kyogoā¦ type of player that needed to be playing regularly which Ange couldnāt guarantee ā¦
2 Likes
Iām surprised at where heās going. Thought a championship side would take a punt on him , albeit Iād rather live in Atlanta than Sunderland
1 Like
Beale has been devoting a few minutes in most of his press conferences to Celtic and had a bit to say last week about Ange having it easy. Ange having an indirect cut back here. This upcoming cup final will have a nice edge.
So itās Kobayashi, Johnston, Iwata and Oh in.
And Juranovic, Jens, Abildgaard and Giakoumakis out.
Those try before you buy, season long loans with an option to make deals permanent are being used more by Celtic these days. Jens and Abildgaard have been moved on again fairly quickly.
Donāt think Giakoumakis has been officially confirmed yet but Atlanta United donāt have the deadline European clubs have. Ideguchi might also leave in the coming days. Iād say we were trying to offload James McCarthy too but heās 1.5 years into a 4 year deal and probably happy to remain in Glasgow. Weād have to pay him off. I donāt think he was ever a signing Ange wanted.
1 Like
Was there other European clubs in for Raskin or is this Beale saying there was in order to big up the signature ?