Not necessarily happy with this - but there is an argument that his value was declining. He wasnāt scoring like he used to. He had 7 touches for Rennes at the weekend after starting. Thereās a limited market for that player. You have to think the Jota/Kyogo deals were linked and maybe we prefer this outcome.
Though we definitely needed to replace Kyogo. Iām not sure 6 months of Ings or Ihneacho was worth pursuing at much expense.
Will look a shambles if weāre still scrambling around all summer though. And I imagine we will will be.
Need someone a level or two above Troy, if weāre to finally regain the European Cup. Itās some dereliction of duty by the board not to have signed first team attackers yet this summer, with a pivotal CL playoff less than 2 weeks away.
Kyogo sold in January, Kuhn last month & Jota injured until the new yearā¦thereās a lack of quality & depth in attacking areas. A quality right winger & striker are required ASAP as starters & possibly a left winger on loan as a squad rotation option.
Maeda will be the main man again this season probably, with Idah, Forrest, Yang etc providing backup to the new signings, if & when they come. We did sign a Japanese striker, Shin Yamada, lately but he looks like a squad player.
There was some English speaking Japanese football expert nerd doing the Celtic podcast rounds recently when Shin signed. He was explaining that when Celtic signed Kyogo, Maeda, Hatate back in 2021-22 under Ange they were getting the best J League players in a kind of first mover advantage way. He said clubs from the big 5 leagues have since turned their attention to Japan & the market is fairly saturated now.
So the best J League prospects are more likely to go direct to the likes of the Bundesliga now; hence the bhoys Celtic have taken recently (a centre/left back called Inamura along with the aforementioned Shin) are less heralded & not the commonly perceived ānext big thingsā. In that sense, the lads from 2021-22 became immediate first team mainstays & these current bhoys are more ādevelopment projectsā.
I donāt mind the club operating a dual transfer strategy of players for now & players for the future, but supportersā patience gets tested when the board shows absolutely no urgency to make the required first team signings.
Not to go all Murderpool fan & their Countinho money stuff, but Celtic have taken in more this summer from the Frimpong sell on clause than theyāve paid out in fees. Never mind the actual ā¬20mn for Kuhn.
Either thereās a lack of competence at board level to conclude the bigger fee buys or thereās some weird reticence to spend. It might be a combination of both. Thereās load of rumours about how Desmond, as minority shareholder, doesnāt fully delegate to the CEO , FD etc & needs to personally sign off on deals above a certain amount. Possibly egos needing to āwinā each negotiation instead of quickly getting signings over the line.
cc @Bisto. Turns out itās Swansea rather than Burnley but Ā£7mn is about as good as they could get. Idah just doesnāt have it & isnāt showing signs of getting it. Some āin the knowā Swansea type who broke the story says itās Ā£4.2mn guaranteed with the rest a mix of the usual goals/appearances add ons.
Iād say they need two strikers now, if Idah goes. One might be Vardy despite reports that Cremonese are strongly pushing for him.
They announced the Balikwisha signing earlier tonight.
Looks like Celtic took a right punt signing idah for 9.5 million from Norwichā¦ heād scored 7 goals in his loan spell and Iād say Celtic thought if he banged in 20-25 goals last season then theyād dbl their money selling him onā¦ 7.5 million is a good return on him based on his current formā¦