Celtic will get stronger in this close season. There is no doubt about that at all. Brendan is said to have earmarked as many as four signings who can step right into the first team. This is encouraging news, as I’m sure you’ll agree. The question is, where will they go?
This article is an attempt to understand that, to sort through the stuff and decide where we need to improve. It goes without saying that if we had the budget to sign multi-million pound players that you could near enough replace every player in the squad with someone better, but within Scottish football and within our budgetary constraints, we need to be realistic.
And within those constraints – indeed, even out-with them – we have a pretty decent first eleven and a healthy substitutes bench. It may not be filled with world class talent (at least two of our players have the potential to reach the top though) but it contains enough real quality as to make improving it on a budget a difficult task.
Nevertheless, it falls to Brendan Rodgers to try this summer, and whilst few would envy him the job it’s an easier one that certain other bosses in the league are facing up to.
It’s best to do these things systematically, so that’s how I’ll approach this task.
Like any good manager should.
Building from the back.
Do We Need To Sign Another Goalkeeper?
The obvious first question is, do we need another goalkeeper? We have three on the books, but you have to ask yourself if any of them is the best we could get? Scott Bain has just been signed, he’s clearly going nowhere except forward in the game. It’s a good signing. But it leaves us with two other keepers, both of whom have question marks about them.
Craig Gordon has his detractors in the Celtic support, and no mistake. But he also has a lot of fans, and that’s sensible because he has been excellent player for us these last few years and on his game he is a superb first choice. But even his biggest fan will admit to heart in the mouth moments and to his having made some shocking individual mistakes.
It is a dreadful thing about goalkeepers that they are the one position on the pitch where there is quite simply no hiding place and few second chances. Look at what’s happened to poor Loris Karius at Liverpool, who’s two errors on the biggest stage of all have made him a target for the boo-boys and the internet hard-men … and that’s just amongst his own support.
In no other part of the pitch are errors so difficult to forgive or impossible to forget. A striker can miss a hat-full of chances and pop up and score the winner and be forgiven … a goalie makes one major error in a match and he is haunted by it. I knew watching the Champions League Final that Karius’ confidence had been dented by the first mistake. The second mistake was always likely, as horrible as it was. Keepers have it tough.
But if Liverpool can pay £4.6 million for that guy, from the Bundesliga, and still not get a player with the mentality to play at the very highest level in the game, what chance do we have of bringing in better than Gordon? He’s an international with a long career behind him. Any signing we make in that area would struggle for his experience.
I think De Vries is done. I understand that he was signed as a player the manager knew and had worked with before, but his own confidence was at rock bottom and that was before the Europa League disaster in Russia where he was culpable for the second goal. He was on a shoogly peg before that game anyway.
On balance, it might be best – for now – to leave that position alone. A good keeper is only as good as those in front of him anyway … and that brings us to the most obvious areas needing improvement, starting with the full-backs.
Left And Right Back. Crucial If We’re To Succeed.
The left back spot belongs to Kieran. If we had a budget in the tens of millions we would not spend a penny of it in an effort to sign someone better. As long as Kieran is at Celtic Park that position is his and his alone. He is one of the best prospects in Europe and he can stay there for the rest of his career if he keeps on improving as he has every year.
Where we do need a signing is as a back-up to him, and that’s difficult for one obvious reason; any player who’s signed for that role knows a back-up is exactly what he is. But I would expect any signing at left back to play games, at least domestically. Because Kieran is more in danger of burn-out than any young footballer in Europe at the moment.
Everyone knows he won’t rest on his laurels or get complacent, but it does no harm to give a player a little competition to keep him sharp. And he’s played an awful lot of games and is easily the most tackled player in the country. We will need to think about whether we want to risk a full campaign with no real alternative. Brendan thinks Jonny Hayes can fill the role if he needs to, but I’d be amazed if our manager actually believed that.
Calvin Miller showed that he could fill in sometimes, but he’s been a striker, a winger and is now a full-back. That might be a credit to his versatility but I always thought that phrase was invented to describe a player who had obvious skills but who wasn’t good enough in any one position to hold it down and make it his own. Time will tell on that one.
At right back, we’re actually blessed with options. New Bhoy Jack Hendry can play there and we have three naturals in the role; Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa and Anthony Ralston. The trouble is, Jack is a central defender, Gamboa might as well be invisible, Ralston is a young lion but lacking experience and Lustig’s best years are behind him.
Lustig was, and occasionally still is, an exceptional right back. But he’s not the answer to the system Brendan wants to play, which is why Gamboa was brought in. With Kieran firing up the left, we’ve unbalanced our side. Gamboa was an unsuccessful attempt to change that; he’s not cut out for the game in Scotland and has failed to nail down the spot.
Lustig can’t play Brendan’s dynamic game. Going forward he makes some shocking mistakes when trying to pass the ball in-field and he lacks the pace to get back to cover in defence when the opposition has the ball. This has led to us being caught by teams who play quickly on the break and who can take the ball from the middle (usually from one of his own slack passes) and get it to speedy players who are already in behind him and running.
We need a cover player on the left, and we need a long-term answer to our issues on the right. Gamboa will leave, and hopefully after having a decent World Cup. Lustig can be a squad player, but should not be our best option for starting games. Kieran is a first choice player who needs a decent back-up in case of injury or exhaustion.
Two signings here. The left back does not have to break the bank, but the right back needs to be quality if we’re to get the best out of the current system.
The Centre Of Defence. We Need Serious Help Here.
Let’s cut through the bollocks and get to the heart of it.
Let’s face down the elephant in the room before we do another thing. The transfer window which opened in January looked a lot better than it turned out to be. Musonda was a disaster of a signing, but he at least has gone now and we don’t have to face that again. Marvin Compper looks far worse.
It may well be that you will never see Marvin Compper in a Celtic shirt again. It may well be that there’s a story there which we’ll hear about (publicly anyway) in due course. But he hasn’t featured, even as a sub, since we came back from Dubai. That’s telling.
We need at least one, possibly two, signings at centre half.
One would be best whilst that area is relatively bloated. Get rid of one of the current crop and we can sign two. We may well need them, although Ajer has been excellent and Hendry is a developing talent who I expect to do very well in a Celtic shirt as we go forward.
Boyata may or may not sign a new deal.
It’s telling that most Celtic fans have no opinion on it one way or another whilst others don’t want him in the squad at all. Simunovic promised so much that it would be sad if it ends badly, but he has been prone to mistakes at awful moments and his tendency to drop out of the team for weeks at a time is no use to us at all.
On the bright side, our scouting system is pretty good at this stuff.
We could still sell Simunovic, if it comes to that, for a decent mid seven figures … good business if you ask me. And in recent years these guys have spotted Wanyama and Van Dijk. I would put my faith in them to have options for Brendan to look at, guys who’ll do a job for us.
I think we can expect at least one signing in this area.
The Defensive Midfield Position. One Of The Toughest In Football To Fill.
On the surface of it, we appear well represented in this area, and with no shortage of quality. I don’t think we’ll be doing much – if any – business in this area whilst we have Scott Brown here and able deputies in Kouassi Eboue and, where needed, Olivier Ntcham and even Callum McGregor. I don’t like Callum in this position, but he’s played it before and done well.
Brown is a seasoned pro, as we all know. He rarely lets us down.
But in Europe, especially, he needs help in the defensive zone. Kouassi will need more games, especially on the continent, to prove he’s up to it, but I love the way Olivier plays in that role with him. When these two have been in the same team this season they have been dominant.
Ollie isn’t a natural defensive player, but he slots in there very well.
When they play in the same midfield three as an attacking midfielder like Amstrong, Rogic or McGregor it’s a good combination and one that has worked well for us.
I doubt we’re going to sign a defensive midfielder, although I’d like us to. The exception may well be John McGinn although he’s made it clear that he doesn’t regard himself as a player in that mould. But I think he’s wrong and could easily play that part.
Phil says we’ve sounded out someone else in this zone; Ki Sung Young, our former player, now at Swansea.
If that true their relegation makes that deal even more likely. Whether Brendan sees him in the defensive role or a more advanced one is the big question; if we do sign this guy then expect one of our attacking midfield options to depart.
The Midfield Play-Maker. Important, But Perhaps Not Essential.
The playmaker.
The guy who stands in the middle of the pitch and finds other players.
A key role in any team and one where we’re very lucky. We have signed a cracker of a player in Olivier Ntcham for this position and he ticks all the boxes. Scott Brown can play this role too, as can Tom Rogic. But the guy I’d love to have seen fill it will probably go; I mean Stuart Armstrong.
This is Ki’s natural role, as it’s the position John McGinn says he prefers. If we’re after one or both of them it could mean that he Brendan sees Ntcham playing back the way, in the defensive zone, or that Tom will be kept as an attacker in “behind the hole.”
Having various players in these positions gives us a range of midfield options, not only for individual tactics but for teams which change their tactical deployments during matches.
Say you are playing defensively; you can play Brown and Ntcham in holding roles with a play-maker in front of them. Then, in possession, you can have Brown drop backwards whilst Ntcham makes runs into the box. The playmaker then sits between the two. Or you can play the playmaker forward, into the hole, moving Brown and Ntcham up one spot when on the attack … that’s three wholly different styles of play rotating the same group of players.
And obviously, the more options you have the better you can do this.
Yes, I expect a signing who can play the midfield playmaker role and who can get back. That’s why McGinn is such a promising prospect and it’s why a move for Ki would make good sense. Midfield is an area where we’re always linked with someone.
Attacking Through The Middle. The Key That Opens The Door.
We play a lot of our football through the middle of the pitch; it’s the key that time and time again opens the door for us. And fortunately we have options galore in that area of the pitch, perhaps more than in any other.
Tom Rogic excels here. So too does Armstrong. Callum McGregor has shown himself more than capable of doing as good a job as either. His development into the complete attacking midfielder has been superb to watch these last few months.
I am excited about this kid in a way I haven’t been about a Celtic midfielder since The Maestro.
Olivier Ntcham has also proved himself more than capable of getting forward and getting goals. A cup final goal against Motherwell will do his confidence the power of good, but it was just one amongst many this season including in Europe.
I love this boy, he’s got the lot and he seems to love playing for us. He is a star.
Even if, as looks likely, Amstrong goes, we are well covered in this position and we didn’t give Rogic a four year deal just to replace him in the squad. I don’t think this is a position that we either will fill nor that we particularly need to; it’s a specialised position and in Rogic we have a superb footballer to play in it and he is backed up by two fine midfield goalscorers.
Of course if Armstrong stays I’ll be more than over the moon.
He is a cracking attacking midfielder (and he can also play the playmaker role superbly) who we’ve missed badly in a lot of games.
I would love it if he was next to commit his future to the club.
Wingers, Wide Playmakers And Inside Forwards. An Area We’ll Definitely Spend.
Over the course of the last two weeks, we’ve lost two players in this area and brought one in.
The one we’ve brought in is an exciting talent; young Lewis Morgan.
But we’ve lost Charley Musonda and Patrick Roberts, so we’re probably weaker overall than we would be if both of those players had their heads screwed on (Musonda) and were fit and on form (Roberts).
It’s not for nothing that they were seen as our “marquee” signings in the last two windows; both are exceptional talents when moving forward with the ball, and are capable of unlocking a defence from out wide. Forrest on the right and Sinclair on the left have served us well, even in a season where Scott drifted away from form, and McGregor slotted in ably in his place towards the end, but it’s clear that this is a key area in the manager’s thinking.
And he is right. You saw what devastation Sinclair could wreck on one side and Roberts in the other during the Invincible campaign. When young James Forrest is at the top of his game not only is he unplayable but Celtic are too.
Brendan values these positions as being crucial to getting behind a packed defence which is set up to limit our game through the middle.
They are also the key to winning tough games in Europe when we routinely come up against quality midfield anchors and top level central defenders. The unpredictable nature of a good wide playmaker or inside forward can work miracles.
Three of the best and most creative players I’ve ever seen in a Celtic team – Di Canio, Nakamura and Moravcick – were wide players who could cut inside and wreak havoc. Jimmy Johnstone was voted the greatest ever Celtic player from exactly that position.
We’ve already been linked with two footballers who can, and do, play there; Jordan Ayew and Hernandez.
The idea that Ayew comes with a £14 million price tag is nonsense and Hernandez is available on a free as of today.
The club will be looking at others who can play the same roles. I absolutely expect us to do business in the wide areas, although Forrest, Morgan, Sinclair and Hayes are already in the squad and McGregor can play there.
Of the four, only Forrest is a natural on the right. In addition, Sinclair can play in the hole and Musonda, although predominantly left-sided, could do it as well … as could Naka and Lubo. The versatility of such a player is a big, big plus point too.
Strikers. What We Have Will Do, Except If Someone’s Leaving.
Strikers.
The key position in any team because they are the ones who go for the glory and can make the big difference.
And we have three excellent strikers at Celtic Park right now, so that even if one is injured we have a first team starter and a good sub. Added to that, Sinclair and Forrest can play the role at a push and both have scored goals there.
Hernandez has been linked to us, as has Ayew. Both have played that role, and Hernandez is a natural there. Yet if either is being sought I think it’ll be more or less to play wide except in one circumstance; the departure of one of the three we currently have.
We’ve not yet sealed the deal for Edouard. It will be done though. But more worryingly, neither Moussa nor Griffiths have new deals. Leigh wants one. I think Moussa would sign one. If we kept this trio together I do not believe we’d need to buy anyone else, even if the manager were thinking of changing the playing style to accommodate two up front.
His own comments seem to bear this out.
Although we will almost certainly do business on wide men who can cut inside and score goals it is nearly inconceivable that we’d go for a player to take Moussa’s place if he’s staying, and especially not when we have Edouard and Leigh still at the club.
To Sum It All Up Then …
We will certainly be stronger when this window closes, but no goalkeeper is likely nor is an attacking midfielder or striker. We need at least one central defender, a right back, cover on the left side of defence and one wide attacker who can score goals.
For a total of four players.
Rumours have us after McGinn and Ki in the central midfield, which strongly suggests that Nir Bitton (who I’ve not mentioned in the article but who can play in central defence, defensive midfield or in the playmaking role; I think he’ll stay by the way and I hope he does) or Amstrong will be heading out the door.
At the back, we will probably get shot of Gamboa and Compper. One other player at the back may leave as well; expect it to be Simunovic rather than Boyata. That would leave us needing two central defenders, but one would be a squad signing.
Fortunately, this team doesn’t need radical surgery, just a little tweaking. Keeping our best players, and those who have something to offer is Part One of the strategy; adding that little bit of quality here and there is Part Two.
Brendan has now been in the job two years; he knows what we need to do.
I expect it’ll be an interesting summer.