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Celtic Make Their Long Awaited Top Transfer Move For A Proper Big Time Charley

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Celtic’s top transfer target for the Champions League qualifiers has been named, and the general feeling seems to be a mixture of surprise and delight.

Because although most of us have not yet heard of this guy in any meaningful way, the pedigree is undeniable and with trust in Brendan Rodgers at an all-time high there’s little doubt to be had.

The player in question is Charley Musonda, a young footballer from Chelsea who has been steadily making his way forward in the game. He’s spent a year on loan in Spain, playing in La Liga, for Real Betis, before returning to Stamford Bridge, at Chelsea’s request, in January this season. Although he didn’t feature in their title winning team after coming home he is highly rated in England and abroad; Celtic’s move has been long in the planning.

In fact, it seems we enquired about him both at the start of last season and again in the January window.

Musonda signed for Betis in January 2016; Brendan had initially believed he might be available on loan before his first campaign got underway, but Betis exercised their right, under the terms of his loan deal there, to keep him for last season’s endeavours.

When Chelsea recalled him this January we once again thought a deal might be done, but it wasn’t to be. Conte announced that he would be retained on Chelsea’s books until the end of the season at least. He is now willing to agree to a deal, but it shouldn’t be taken as a negative reflection on the player. That he played 21 times in the best league in Europe before being recalled home should give you some idea of Musonda’s quality.

Last season, when we signed Dembele, who was the same age as Musonda is now, there was some question as to whether we were taking a punt, or simply indulging in another “project” signing. But anyone who knew the pedigree of the player and who had watched him play, even fleetingly, knew we were signing a first-team footballer.

There is little doubt that Musonda is in the same mould.

He moved to Chelsea from the startling Anderlecht youth setup that has produced a conveyer belt of top European talent over the last decade, and has helped make the Belgian international team into one of the best on the continent. Belgian football is doing something right, and it has been for a long time. Musonda has represented the national team at every level bar the senior side, moving through from the under 15’s to the under 21’s. His career is most definitely on the rise.

It’s clear here that we’re not buying the finished article, but it’s equally clear that this is not a project signing. As with Dembele, we’re after a highly accomplished player here, someone whose far enough down the development path that he can already fit into our team and hold down a place in it. It’s equally clear that this won’t be a loan deal; reports suggest that Brendan is willing to spend big to make the boy a Celtic player for the long haul.

This will inevitably raise questions about the status of players currently at Celtic Park.

It will most definitely raise them in regards to Stuart Armstrong, who’s yet to commit to a new deal. But Brendan seems sure that situation will be sorted out sooner rather than later, and to everyone’s satisfaction, so I think we can wait to see what develops there without panic. Clearly, Scott Brown will not be around forever; replacing him in the long term is a task that’s already well underway and we’re covering ourselves for that eventuality.

Indeed, the most likely midfield candidate to depart is Nir Bitton, something, if we’re being honest, that most of us have been expecting to happen for a while now.

With Jonny Hayes on the books and the club still very interesting in tying up a deal for Patrick Roberts (oh you thought we’d given up on that, eah? Not yet, dear friends, not yet), the shape of the team for the next campaign is slowly being made clear; Musonda is being signed as a “classic number 10”, playing in the hole behind the midfield and the front men. Brendan is doubling down on the system that brought us such glory last season.

The closet parallel partnership I can think of is the Harry Kane – Dele Ali one which was so effective at Spurs last year. We’re building a front line in that mould; he clearly sees Musonda playing behind either Dembele or Griffiths with Sinclair on one side in support and someone else, be it Hayes or Roberts of even Leigh on the right.

It’s an electrifying concept.

It’s football “the Celtic way.”

Because beyond the relative merits of the player’s own CV what this really boils down to is Celtic spending a significant sum – perhaps a record sum for our club – on a 20 year old and that, as much as anything else, is a matter of trust. The board’s trust in the manager. Their faith in his long-term vision. It’s clear that Brendan has earned that, from them and for us, which is why this deal is potentially so exciting if we can pull it off.

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