Celtic are in the news today with a story that we’re looking at buying a striker. Ryan Mmaee of Ferencvaros, who has had one Hell of a season and comes with all sorts of glowing recommendations.
There’s a lot about the story that rings true … except one thing.
Is buying a striker really one of Celtic’s top priorities?
In some ways I would be very surprised if this story was true. In other ways, I’d be very disappointed if it turned out not to be. I think there’s a good argument for going out and buying another forward, but you could equally mount a case that it’s the one area of the pitch where we are already well and truly taken care of.
Our first choice strikers are Giakoumakis and Kyogo.
But Daizen Maeda is more than decent as a backup, although the manager plays him out wide. Forrest has played as a striker. Abada has played as a striker. So too has Jota from time to time.
That’s six front men, three of whom are recognised strikers. Do we need a fourth recognised striker at the club when we already have such firepower? Are there not parts of the team which need this money spent more than in the forward line?
Actually, it’s not a bad idea to have another front man. The last time Celtic was as strong, up front, as it is right now was during Rodgers time when Dembele, Edouard and Griffiths were all fighting for a single striker’s slot. Before that you have to go back to Martin O’Neill’s Larsson-Sutton-Hartson strike-force to find us as potent.
This manager believes in redundancy; it’s an engineering term. It means that you install components which aren’t entirely necessary, but are there in case something else in the machine breaks down. It’s also about planning ahead, in case some club swoops in next summer with a big bid for Kyogo or Giakoumakis. Then their replacement has been at the club all along.
This is how the smart clubs operate.
Having additional firepower also gets you through these sporadic injury crises which seem to hit Celtic a lot. Provided this guy doesn’t cost a lot of money it’s pretty much a no risk bit of business, with a high potential upside.
Obviously there are other areas of the pitch where reinforcements are more needed; central defence, left back, left midfield perhaps and a ball winning hard man in the middle of the pitch.
But Ange’s philosophy is all about scoring more goals than the opposition so I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if he was thinking along these lines. In addition, just because we might choose to do this it doesn’t mean that those other areas will be neglected.
Celtic has serious money in the bank with the guarantee of more … this summer, we genuinely could have it all.
Good times are in front of us folks.
As long as we look after the other areas of the squad that need reinforcing, why not. Your own reasoning explain why very well, good performance indicators, stats, flexibility, age and experience, so why not.
I would like to know how the Press and other media outlets get their stories about Celtic’s interest in certain named new players. Do they intercept phone calls?. It is not hard to do. Are there informants in the club?. I would say not. Do agents talk to clubs in a way to up the price of their client players?. Most likely. I think this possibly went on with Riley McGree. It’s strange because a lot of the published rumours are close to the truth.
I am not able to answer James’ hypothetical, which is worth asking. If you are confident of making big money in the Champions League and the striker is as good or better than what we have and he fits the budget; go for him. You might be playing plenty more games and another speedy striker who can catch through balls can be rotated to the team advantage. Ange and Michael Nicho have their priorities and will be working on them.
You forgot to mention Ajeti, that Mmaee boy does look like a player but we would have to sell Ajeti if we bought another striker in my opinion. Could see Ajeti actually doing a GG and going on a goalscoring run if he gets the chance, he actually has a not bad record. Ajeti did seem to have a heavy touch and enjoy a belly flop or two but you can never count a Bhoy out.
I have only seen Ryan Mmaee on YouTube. He is almost exclusively a right footed striker. His left foot passes are good. He plays in the same zones as Tom Rogic. I can’t see why he would not be an outstanding replacement for Tom.