If Celtic Is Scouting Korea That Confirms A Complete Transformation In Our Strategy.

The transfer news just keeps on coming for Celtic, and much of it is in the positive sense.

Sure, we keep getting the stories about Juranovic and Giakoumakis and the hacks occasionally throw another player or two into the mix, but for the most part it’s all good.

Yesterday, the stories mainly centred on Korea where we’re now linked with two different players. Today we are linked with a third.

That’s an interesting development and it confirms something I wrote a while back.

There has been a permanent change in our transfer strategy. We now look further afield than we ever have and part of this is Brexit and having an advantage over English sides.

Another part of it is that Brexit has forced us to confront the issues with our transfer policies before now. They were all about focussing on Europe, because it was easier to sign players from there.

Now there’s no difference between signing a Brazilian wonderkid and someone from Slovakia.

That’s why we no longer discriminate. That’s why it’s a better plan.

Clubs here in the UK are being forced to adapt like never before. English clubs find limits on players which never existed before; this is why I think some of those who claim we’re not going to get value for Juranovic are so wrong. He’s a full, and regular, international; that gets him over several of the work permit hurdles that their sides need to navigate.

In their difficulty, lies our opportunity and it is only now, I think, that the full implications of this are starting to sink in. The grace period for English clubs ended some time ago, but the scale of the issues they face are starting to become more and more visible. The FA there is obviously pleased, because it puts the focus on youth development.

For Celtic, their crisis has become our opportunity, and we are grabbing it with both hands.

There was little wrong on the surface of it with what we had before, but a transfer strategy so focussed on Europe left a lot of the world open to others and I have long believed that was a mistake, and I am delighted that at long last it is being rectified.