I love that tonight there are Ibrox fan media reps scrambling to deny – doubtless steered by their club – that their club was ever interested in the Honduran winger Luis Palma.
That’s absolute nonsense, that is.
They were linked with him all summer and their own sites carried literally dozens of stories on him. The media in Greece confirms they submitted several bids.
The noise on this was constant, not just weeks of it but two months of it.
They were very confident of getting him too, although his club made it clear that it considered their offers derisory and none came anywhere near what they wanted for him.
I have no idea if he’s a good player or not, but his stats are decent and they were well interested in signing him, there is no doubt about that at all. They could never agree terms with his club, and all the talk went quiet although there was a modest revival of it when The Mooch claimed that he wants a signing to replace Ryan Kent. Palma plays on the same side of the pitch.
It just so happens to be the same side of the pitch as Jota played and where we’re looking for a footballer. There is a lot of speculation linking us to others, like Fraser and Podence, but this one intrigues me and interests me in a way neither of those deals automatically did. Maybe it’s because for months the media has been telling us he’s a wonderkid.
How sweet it would be if all that coverage, and the drooling of the Ibrox supporters, was all over a player who would up at Celtic Park instead. I thinking that would be as hilarious as anything that has happened here for a while.
Provided he can do it on the park.
Nobody knows if we have made a serious offer for him or not.
The whole thing could be smoke and mirrors, or outright nonsense.
Or we might be in talks and confident of closing the deal. But Ibrox’s panic radar is beeping loudly and rather than just admit that for them he was the one who got away they actually rushed to get the word out that he was never one of their targets. Everyone in the Scottish media knows full well that he was.
They are hyper-sensitive on this one, and that has certainly made me think that there’s something in the story. If we get a player they were after and he turns out to be a superstar then serious questions will be asked of their club and its signing policy, which they are lucky has been overshadowed this past week by talk about ours.
Because their transfer window looks to have been an utter waste.
No wonder they are worried about this. The next few days will tell us what’s really going on here, but in the meantime the Ibrox fan sites which are denying what all of us know are just making themselves sound ridiculous.
Very high risk alright James, but huge rewards if a good player all the same.
Seems like a signing will be made for the LW position with a couple of candidates in mind now.
Think whoever can get the deal done the quickest without to much fuss will be the one we end up with?
Still couldn’t call it, as who the potential new LW will be, just relieved it’s a position we are starting to take serious in getting a player in to fill it, even if it was to slow
He was linked with us in the summer before Postecoglou arrived, this is not a new face we, as a club have been looking at. I’m sure the rumours were there before we signed Jota on loan?
I’m not over-confident about their new arrivals being total dross though. I keep repeating this – they had a slow start in 86/87 too, losing at Easter Road and at home to Dundee United in the first three games and we laughed at all that money they’d wasted…. but despite (or maybe because) us having won the league, we hadn’t strengthened at all in the summer, and as was usual for those days our traditional October slump saw the early season advantage thrown away as they put a run together and the start of The Dark Time was soon upon us. He’s put that big team of bruisers together to swat aside the rest of the teams in the league, which it will despite a shaky start. If they can equal or better us in the head to heads they will be in contention, particularly when you consider that we’ve lost not only the defensive stability of an established centre back pairing but also Jota who was not a prolific goal scorer as such but nearly all the goals he got were in big games, and often match-winners in tight contests to boot. Usually an “injury crisis” is just bad luck, but if a lot are similar injuries (such as hamstrings or calves) you have to wonder if a change of training regime could be behind it.
I think we need an established no-nonsense centre back, a ball-winning midfielder and a winger or attacking midfielder who can bring 10 goals a season to the party. And that’s just to stand still – another keeper and possibly a left-back wouldn’t go amiss if we want to progress.
It’s time to prove that they mean it.
“Aye but can he fill in as a CB for a couple of months?”
Wheels within wheels.
Square ones that is. The Lawwell formula.
They offered a Lucky Bag in instalments.
James you are first to condone the media in our own country but are believing what the Greek media was reporting.As far as I believe the guy is a”troublesome”player ,hothead and dressing room disrupter .Let’s see if we get him but not really a fan but I will gladly eat my words