Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Round of 16 - Brazil v South Korea - Stadium 974, Doha, Qatar - December 5, 2022 South Korea's Cho Gue-sung in action with Brazil's Eder Militao REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
The reports yesterday that our move for the Korean lad, Cho Gue-sung – if indeed such a move is even something we’re discussing – has stalled all suggested that it scuppered our hopes of getting a deal done in January.
But aside from bedding him into the team before the Champions League next season – not a bad reason – why does any deal need to be done now anyway?
Ange faced a similar problem with the guy he had identified as his first big target for the club; Daizen Maeda. He wanted him right away, the club said no. They wanted to keep him until their domestic campaign had finished. He became the league’s top scorer. Instead of getting him in that first window, in the summer, we waited for January.
This time we might need to reverse that. Why would we not?
If the guy is our number one target in that position, then we face either not signing him at all or waiting for six months.
I don’t see why we wouldn’t wait the six months. We have all the firepower we need in the squad at the moment, and if he’s being touted as a Giakoumakis replacement it’s much cleaner to do it in the summer window than to try and do it right now, mid-campaign.
I think this might all work out pretty well. I think that waiting until the summer minimises disruption in the squad, and allows the guys who are here to get on with winning two in a row.
This isn’t to say that we can’t get the deal done now.
We could, and if he’s the guy we want then we should. Tie it up, let him stay for the last six months and give his club the time to source his replacement and have him in the side in the meantime.
It makes good sense not just for Celtic but for them too, and it would stop in its tracks any possibility that we might be gazumped for the guy.
If he’s the target, go seal the deal, Celtic, even if we have to wait for the player himself.
One thing I’ve noticed is that other than Kyogo, who we arguably overpaid for, Ange hasn’t brought in any players who were in the middle of their domestic seasons from their former clubs. He’s always allowed players to complete their season before bringing them in. My hunch is that negotiations with the other club have a lot to do with that as clubs don’t want to let their best players leave in the middle of the season. Doing a deal now and loaning him back for the remainder of the season would certainly alleviate that concern so no reason why that can’t be done in this case.
We can afford it sign this guy.
That makes no sense. Their season is finished. Why the hell would they be more willing to sell half way through their season?
Our move hasn’t stalled at all, they are just in no rush to sell him, as the stories actually say if you read past the headlines…
“…Kyogo, who we arguably overpaid for…”
I’ll argue that we didn’t overpay in the least. HIi goals helped win us the league and won us the League Cup. Okay so he hasn’t produced in Europe…yet, but there’s time. Plenty of players don’t cut the mustard at the top level immediately, it’s a learning curve and to be so dismissive of a player who has been outstanding for us otherwise is the kind of impatient pish I’d expect from a hun.
If it’s true GG’s family aren’t settiling well in scotland then let him go and get the new guy in ASAP would be my take on why we maybe shouldn’t wait. I guess we’ll see what happens…