Celtic And The Ibrox Club Seem To Bidding For The Same Positions. That Could Be Fun.

Something interesting is going on at Ibrox at the moment. They are trying to sell Yilmaz, their left back from Turkey, probably because he’s one of the few players they can raise money via a transfer fee for, although how I don’t know because he’s not that impressive.

But the deal to get him off the wage bill is designed to open a space for a new player; a left back. Which just so happens to be one of the two remaining positions that we are chasing. The other we’re chasing is a striker. Guess what they are after?

So ourselves and then, going after players in the same positions, at the same time. Normally that should be an interesting exercise in who can make the player the better offer, or at least it would have been when the club out of Ibrox was Rangers and not just some tribute band calling itself that. They might not have had the money but they’d have spent it.

But this is the moment when our financial advantage should start to assert itself. This is the moment when having the cash to buy players whilst they fumble about in the loan market should start to confer a big advantage on us. We may be after the same type of players, but we’re shopping in very different stores. We can afford to pay transfer fees. For all their bluster it is hard to see where they are getting the money to do that.

I said earlier in the week that you have to give them credit for leaving it all out on the park. They spend what they have to. But even they can’t magic money out of thin air, and they are, not to put too fine a point on it, just about skint. They want this title, they believe it is within reach if they can just improve their starting eleven … but that’s an expensive business.

And we have the money and they don’t. That’s why we can dart out now and spend £3 million on a guy in a position many in the media don’t think we need somebody. (I disagree, as I’ve outlined in a previous couple of pieces.) We can do what they cannot here.

This is what you build a surplus for. It’s not called rainy day money for nothing; it’s there in case the need to spend should arise, and on the day our seven point lead evaporated that was the moment where this stopped being something optional and became something necessary. The manager would not have wanted it this way, but it looks like he might have backing after all.

I don’t know if we’ll push the boat out as far as we’d all like, but we’re able to and that trumps Ibrox if we should find ourselves, by some freak accident, going for the same player. As we have greater resources and a better scouting system you would not think they will find themselves with better options; if they do then question would need to be asked of our board which Mark Lawwell will not enjoy having to face, even if it’s only on social media.

Here’s the thing; if it turns out we go for the same player in either of those roles, their club could face genuine embarrassment.

If it comes to the transfer fee they definitely will.

So we can be optimistic. We have the best striker in the country already at the club. We have a decent left back capable of performing perfectly well in the domestic game, but we still want a player in each position and we’ve got the wherewithal to go out and get them in. We’ve had plenty of time to look at the options as well.

Ibrox’s needs are greater. They need a prven striker much more than we do, which is why I was certain they’d try and scrape the money together to at least give Hearts something to think about over Shankland. We could table an offer for him tomorrow and not even miss the money, and we could make a big bid for Miovski as well … I have to think we’ve got better options than both and perhaps at a better price.

I’m hoping we get the deal for a striker over the line quickly, in spite of signing a new front man and Kyogo being available. There are rumours, including one about us using Rocco Vata as a makeweight in the deal for Sydney Van Hooijdonk; that seems logical and there might even be something in that. Regardless, he would cost us another few million.

This is when every advantage Celtic has should be brought to bear, like a fist slamming down on the rest of the league.

Are we game enough to do it? Do we have the ambition to do it?

We can, and that’s the first thing and the most important thing. The capability exists and although Ibrox is in for the same type of players ours should be a class above theirs.

And in a close title race, that’s going to matter. That’s everything.