Has Celtic Made Its One And Only Mistake In This Transfer Window?

I was surprised – horribly surprised – to read that we have allowed the big defender Osaze Urhoghide to join the Belgians at Oostende with an option to buy.

It is a ridiculous decision, and one that it does not take great imagination to see could come back to haunt us.

Have we not learned lessons from this?

Aren’t we following the rage and frustration at Benfica as they watch Jota become the kind of footballer they’d have wanted on the books?

Yes, they might still be able to win him back to their side, as we might offer this big guy a chance to perform yet as a Celtic player … but equally, he might just decide he prefers it there as Jota might well decide he wants to pursue his career options at Parkhead.

Honest to God, this is a decision which will be really hard to defend and I fully intend to raise this with the manager when I get the chance to speak to him as I’m pencilled in to do in mid-February.

I am seriously flabbergasted by this decision.

Osaze Urhoghide hasn’t made much of an impact on the first team, but I’ve liked the look of him every time I’ve watched him play.

It might be that he’s not Ange’s “type” of player, and that’s fair enough, but I’d like to hear that from his own mouth because otherwise this makes not one bit of sense to me.

If the guy goes over there and is a big hit there is no question they’ll pay the loan fee, and if it was a case of us or them and we gave him guarantees, then sure he might fancy Celtic more … but if they’ve got a buyer lined up already, as was the case with Hendry, there’s no guarantee he won’t fancy that club and that opportunity and thus wave us farewell.

To me this is ridiculously short-sighted and lacking in strategic thinking.

Just when you thought that this club was deftly handling everything right … they go and do something that is so stone stupid that it actually makes you want to slap yourself awake.

Poor, poor decision Celtic, and one that somebody needs to explain to us.