Look at the papers today and you see an interesting pattern developing over the bulk of our transfer stories.
Links to a winger.
Links to two centre backs.
Continued chatter about Baldock at Sheffield Utd, although I don’t believe there will be any real attempt to sign him when you consider the ludicrous fee the club is supposed to want for him.
But they are all based in England, and that makes perfect sense right now if the intent is to get in the players we want for the Champions League qualifiers.
One of the reasons I thought that we had to make a signing this week is the requirement for players from abroad to self-isolate.
Clearly, that does not apply to footballers from England.
Which means we’ve got six days until the deadline, and as long as the players are fit and capable of stepping into the team we can still get business done and make the team stronger by securing a couple of deals before the deadline in six days.
The game itself is in eleven.
Shopping in the UK gives us a little more breathing space … but only a hair.
And it doesn’t mean that we should reject foreign players entirely.
Because of Brexit, this might be our last chance to sign players from abroad without jumping through a million hoops, since we still have no clear idea what the work permit system will look like when this window shuts.
Right now though, needs must and if you think talk of the Swede or the Croatian has dimmed as it goes up on players elsewhere it’s because signing one of those two at the moment is pointless because of the various delays there would be in registering them.
Of course, we really should have done business before now but we seem to be thinking strategically for once.
Other signings – foreign players – we can get done on a slightly longer timeframe, but for now the priority is these two opening games and that means, and I hate to use this ghastly phrase with its right-wing connotations, buying British.
It explains why we’re not panicking over the failure to close our Swedish or Croatian deals.
But for God’s sakes, Celtic, get some bloody business done.