The Celtic Transfer Window: What We Have And What We Need.

It’s the silly season again.

Transfer window time, and this is my first article on the site for a while.

A busy life doesn’t leave much time for blogging unless you’re a blogger, and so I told James that when I put in my return I would do it with some aplomb. Hence this lengthy article on the priorities that the manager will have when he addresses the needs of the squad.

There are two types of transfer window deals.

Those which are done primarily for effect and those which are thought out and purposeful. Believe it or not, in the bigger leagues of Europe clubs tend now more towards the former than the latter.

Take Liverpool and their big story of the summer.

Their spending of a vast transfer fee on Darwin Nunes could be seen as a response to losing Salah to Bayern Munich; in fact , I think it far more likely that it’s seen as a response to Man City closing the deal for Haaland.

That’s not to say that it’s not a great move, or that he won’t be a fine player … but it’s a headline grabber at a time they needed a headline.

Now take their signing of Aberdeen’s Connor Ramsey; that’s thought out and purposeful. They’ve paid a decent fee for him and know exactly what they want his role to be. He’s the understudy to Trent-Arnold. (And there they could have had Tavernier; what do these English clubs know anyway?) It’s succession planning and very smart business.

Celtic will do good business in this window. I am sure of it. But it might not be the business that the fans would expect or want. With this manager, we’ll get what we need not what the headline writers might necessarily want. There is a difference.

Because let’s be honest, this squad isn’t in bad shape overall.

This squad won a title last year and showed real progress. If the manager’s career trend keeps up there will be even greater improvements this season. We don’t need a wholescale rebuild.

So let’s look at each area of the team and give an honest assessment of where we’re likely to be when the window closes again.

It’s interesting.