Today’s there’s continued speculation over the player I talked about yesterday, the Nigerian striker Henry Onyekuru. According to reports, we had one bid rejected and might be preparing to make another. It’s all if’s, buts and maybe’s at this point.
Before I get to the main thrust of the article, let me say this about yesterday’s piece.
I wasn’t suggesting that Onyekuru is a bad player. I said in the article he’s probably a very decent one. I said he has a big mouth to be talking to the media before his club has accepted a bid. I said I would rather we signed players who behave in a professional manner in every aspect of their careers. I think it’s disrespectful to his club for him to be appearing to pressure them in public, and openly trying to spark an auction for his services.
If we sign that guy, what do you reckon the first question at the press conference will be? Cause I know what it will be; “Are you using Celtic as a stepping stone?” And that will start it. Speculation will dog this guy from the first minute he pulls on the shirt. We already get that, of course, but someone who arrives at our club with it on the record guarantees us nothing else, months of it, and if he continues doing his negotiating through the media he’ll be gone in a year.
To those who’ve suggested this is “normal” and that Celtic are a “selling club” … please, your lack of imagination and ambition for us is worrying. If we’re to get better we need to have a long term view. This deal would have “short term” written all over it.
Look at big Moussa and Kieran; they are surrounded by these stories and neither has rocked the boat. Yesterday I simply suggested that a guy’s form on the pitch isn’t all you need to take into consideration when you’re trying to sign him. Someone who’s touting himself for a move whilst still under contract is perhaps not the sort you want.
Simple as that. Celtic First. That’s all it is.
If the press has this right – and they sometimes do – we’re still in the market for him. If we’re in the market for him, and we don’t get him, then I have to assume there’s a Plan B. Because Brendan does his due diligence and knows what he wants. If there’s a Plan B we are definitely trying to sign another striker. The question is, should we?
On the surface of it, it’s a daft question. But really, is it?
If you assume Moussa will be at Celtic Park for at least another 12 months – all the signs are good on that front; I expect him to be there for at least another 24 – and that Leigh is going nowhere, and I hope that’s the case, then what are we going to do with the guy?
Yes, you need cover for injuries and right now all we’ve got is Nadir Ciftci, who we wall expect to be gone by the close of business, but if you bring in someone for a lot of money – the reports suggest that we’d need to offer as much as £3 million for the Nigerian’s services, and that a £1 million bid has already been rejected – you can’t just leave him sitting there on the bench. Make him our second pick after Moussa and say goodbye to Leigh, who’s too bloody good to be playing in the reserves most weeks. Sign him as a third choice? I think not.
This would all be different, of course, if Brendan was going to change his tactical approach and go with two men up front, but why should he at this point? The current system is working, it’s working better than I would ever have believed, and there’s no need for radical surgery. Perhaps he has plans to play two up front in certain games; in European home ties it might well be the way to go. I am certain that he’ll have thought about it long and hard if he has.
You trust the manager in these circumstances, and I would trust Brendan in all circumstances.
I’m also the last guy who will usually grumble about us making a signing – I am more often like a kid on Christmas Day when I hear we’ve completed a deal! (There are a couple of exceptions; Ciftci was baffling and the less said about Colin Kazim Richards the better.)
If we go out and spend a few quid on some young hot-shot I’ll be over the moon and ponder our team selection dilemma at another time.
But I already worry about Leigh Griffiths getting itchy feet.
For all that, it would be a lovely problem to have. I look across the city at a club who was rescued, yesterday, by a 37 year old who they’re offering a new contract. He is one of five strikers there right now and the only one they can rely on week in, week out. We have a guy sitting on the bench most weeks who scored 40 times last year. A similarly potent player, sitting beside him, would terrify defences at home and abroad. Options are always good to have.
I assume our interest in another forward is because Nadir will be leaving and we need that third striker on the books. I assume the manager is flirting with the idea of two (or maybe three haha; imagine that) up front. I assume these things but don’t actually know them.
Because Brendan has made unpredictability one of the watch-words of our team. We might line up in a similar way every week, but this guy changes so much during a game that managers must be left reeling sometimes trying to keep up with him.
I guess what it comes down to is this; it’s better to have the option and not need it than to need it and not have it. Keeping everyone happy is something Brendan will know how to do. It would be one in the eye for the cynics in the media who haven’t quite figured out yet that this guy takes a long-term view and is putting down roots.
In Brendan We Trust.
If he thinks we need another striker, then Celtic, go get one.