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Could This Be A Two Signing Week At Celtic?

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Yesterday I wrote about the way in which the club has gone up in a gear in its pursuit of Scott Sinclair, the Aston Villa wide man who Brendan Rodgers has apparently made a priority signing target. That deal is expected to go through this week.

But at the same time, there’s a clear need for us to strengthen the central defence and reports today suggest that we’ve also moved forward with our pursuit of Shane Duffy, with James Forrest reputedly going in the other direction to sweeten the deal.

This makes a lot of sense. Sinclair is a better player than Forrest, and would replace him in the squad. Duffy gives us a signing in the position where we need one the most. If there’s a way to get both deals over the line this week we should do it.

That appears to be the thinking inside Celtic Park; our summer transfer business looks as if it might be ramping up, finally, and that some new footballers will be arriving soon. Our one and only deal of this window, Moussa Dembele, has been warmly received and shows a level of ambition consummate with a team that takes itself seriously again. Adding Duffy and Sinclair would be further proof of that, as both can play at a level well above the SPL.

This has been an unusual summer for Celtic fans, at least as far as transfer stories go. We all probably thought we’d seen the last of our club shopping in the English market, but it’s clearly not so. There are clearly a lot of good players down there who can still be got at for reasonable prices but they are rare. That we were able to secure Dembele at all was a minor miracle; that we managed to do it without paying a huge fee is definitely one.

For all that, some fans have been disappointed in the slow pace with which we’ve done things, a trait that is not uncommon to this window but is a criticism that’s been levelled at the club over and over again these last few years. What makes this one different is that the calibre of player we’re looking at is higher, over the piece.

The registration deadline for the next round – if we’re going to sign more than one player – is midnight Thursday, although we can add someone up until 24 hours before the game. It would be gross stupidity not to sign someone before that line. It would be reckless to say the least.

This is shaping up to be an important week for everyone at the club.

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