Celtic’s Late Signing Spree: Not Timely But Welcome

So here we are then, signing players in key positions in the week after we’ve been knocked out of the Champions League.

Nothing quite sums up Celtic like this does.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see signs of life – and the right kind of life at that.

But this is endemic of the issues we’re facing as a club, that we’ve left it until we’ve already exited the biggest football competition in the world before we start spending money.

Of course, we’re not really spending anything at all.

Virgil Van Dijk is certain to leave, and today’s mad scramble for players is simply us replacing him, with part of his fee.

The rest of the money will go to make up some of the shortfall for our failure to make the big competition.

This is frustrating, and it’s senseless that we keep on doing this, over and over again.

Scepovic and Guidetti were signing last season at exactly the same point, when the Swede could have been at Celtic Park weeks before, as we toiled up front against Maribor in the last qualifier.

It just seems that we have a horrible tendency to leave things late.

I got some stick – which I’d been expecting – over my criticism of the Blackett loan deal.

I was told that I knew nothing about football as I wasn’t intimately familiar with the career of a guy who played 11 games in the Premiership last season.

I guess they watch more of the world’s most overblown league than I do.

But my point doesn’t change.

Even with an option to buy, this deal is stupid because the player himself, if he performs to a high standard, is going to fancy his chances at his current club.

If they’re willing to sell him, even with our first option, we already know we’re not going to match the kind of wages he’ll get at Newcastle or Spurs or somewhere else in the EPL.

I have no doubts – none at all – that my critics are correct about him.

I never doubted, never questioned, his talent. I admitted, freely, that I didn’t know enough about him to give an honest assesment.

(Some people thought I was having a dig. I was simply being truthful.)

I believe them when they say he’s an excellent footballer. All the reports I’ve read say the same thing.

But the option to buy simply isn’t worth the paper its printed on unless this kid falls in love with Celtic and is willing to forego his huge earning potential down south in order to stay.

I’m not saying that’s impossible – we’re a special club with special fans – but it’s not likely either, is it?

He’s not a kid from the Calton. He owes us no loyalty and I expect none.

Again, not a criticism. Just being objective.

The very best we can hope for from the deal is that he’s as good as Jason Denayer.

As I said, I hear that he’s a pretty decent footballer, and that’s all good, but my gripe is that at the end of his loan spell we’re going to be right back here again next season, needing to find a replacement, unsettling the defence, upsetting a partnership and needing to bed a new one in.

Just in time for European Champions League qualifiers.

If this sounds familiar it’s because it is.

But those are the negative points, and this really isn’t a day when I want to over-indulge in those.

Because positive things do appear to be happening.

Today, if we’re to believe the reports, the club is going to come close to meeting its current transfer record.

This will astonish me – not surprise me, but astonish me – and suggests that there’s been some kind of subtle shift in thinking within the club.

If this is indicative of changes in the wind, well I’ll be one happy bhoy.

Reports of Steven Fletcher coming on loan, as well as continuing rumours about Michu, are both very welcome.

Fletcher will certainly have an option to buy clause, and he’s been talking for a while about wanting to go back to playing in Scotland.

He’s exactly the kind of physical ball-holding front man we’ve needed for a while and I’d be happy to see him in the Hoops, because in his case, unlike with the Blackett deal, I do think there’s a reasonable chance of us retaining his services past this term.

The prospect pleases me. I think he’s a great player.

You cannot help but wonder what he might have done in this year’s Champions League games.

Michu is another matter entirely – a genuinely exciting footballer, one who will light up Celtic Park.

From what I can gather, that move has been touted as a straight up transfer rather than a loan and if that’s the case I’d welcome him with even more open arms.

In his first season in the EPL he looked an astonishingly talented player, and scored goals against some of the biggest teams in the league.

He faded in his second season, as the club brought in other footballers and changed its style of play to accommodate them … but he’s got the stuff.

I consider that a long shot, but one we should try for, although I’m not so sure about signing him on loan.

Again, it would be us rescuing someone’s career, helping them re-find form and watching them go and sign for someone else.

I don’t like loan deals, generally.

You might have spotted that!

Only a handful of players on loan ever look willing to run through walls for a manager and a team, with big Jason being one of the notable exceptions.

They are also no more than a stop gap, and leave you scrambling to sign replacements the following year.

But replacing an on-loan forward is, curiously enough, easier than replacing a centre back, so I’d be happier with a loan striker than I am at getting young Blackett.

Central defence, for all it ain’t sexy, is the most important part of the modern football team and a good partnership at the back takes time, and needs to develop.

You don’t get stability there overnight, and it’s better if it grows over a couple of years.

The really disappointing thing about Jason going back to City is that he and Virgil looked as if they might be forming just such a partnership, although that was clearly never going to last.

Jozo Simunovic is young. But he’s tremendously capable, and is not a signing that remotely worries me.

Moreover, I am hoping that the size of the fee represents a belief that this kid is closer to the finished article than many of the other signings we’ve made over the last few years.

With a fee that size, I’m hoping the plan is to build a defence around this guy.

That suggests that he’s going to be here for the long haul and isn’t seen as a “prospect” to sell on at some point.

That would be the most welcome change of all.

Genuine team building.

All myself and the other critics of The Strategy have ever asked for.

So, whilst I am frustrated because this wasn’t done four weeks ago I’ve got to give credit where it’s due.

These are positive steps in the right direction and I said in the previous piece I’m also a huge fan of Ryan Christie, which is why I’d be happier with that deal if he was coming to Celtic right now rather than us letting him go back on loan.

Let him bed into the team.

Let him get to know his team-mates.

Give him a taste of European football.

Ready him, and the others, for the next bite at the Champions League cherry.

He has the talent. We should start giving him the experience to go with it right now.

All in all, things are getting … interesting again.

I’ll hopefully be writing a couple of welcome messages over the next day or two.