Anthony Joseph is a very well-informed guy, and so when he says that Celtic are doing “due diligence” on a number of players as potential replacements for Matt O’Riley then we should take it seriously insofar as this is what he’s being told, and by a source good enough that he feels confident in putting that information in the public domain.
That doesn’t mean that what he is running is any way connected to reality. I am not questioning Anthony Joseph’s motives. I’m questioning the motives of whoever is providing him his information in this case, and their motives I do not trust at all.
The three names he’s presented to us are such different sorts of players that it sets the alarm bells ringing right away, and as such I cannot imagine that two of them are the guys who the manager is considering for his position. There is virtually no chance of that. Nor do I believe that Bernardo is an adequate replacement. O’Riley’s goals and assists made a substantial contribution to the campaign. You need a similar type player to get that back and he’s not that.
Shea Charles is the Southampton player we were linked with earlier in the week; he’s a defensive midfielder who has been with their club for a year and who they paid a big fee for. We might get him on loan. The idea that we’ll have an option to buy that we might one day seriously entertain activating seems almost funny in the current circumstances. Another summer of this Bernardo type nonsense I think we could all well do without.
Even as I write this, Russell Martin, the Southampton boss, has said there is “not a chance” of them letting Charles go. That may change if they get O’Riley, but that does them more good than us as there is “not a chance” of him replacing Matt’s contribution to this team in the attacking part of the pitch. So don’t count on this one having any legs at all.
Tanner Tessmann is 22, plays in Italy, comes from the MLS and would be cheap and is not on great wages. He’s the blueprint “project” footballer. He’s a player in the mould of Bernardo; he’s not an attacking player, he doesn’t get into the penalty box.
But of the three of them, it’s more likely than not that he’s the guy we’ll replace O’Riley with, and whatever way you look at it, that’s a downgrade and probably a significant one. It does not come close to what the manager wants here, and he’s made it clear what he wants.
He wants experience. He wants a “next level” player … not a “maybe tomorrow” one.
But that is what he’s in line to get.
The third name on the so-called shortlist is exactly the kind of player Rodgers does want. He ticks every box. He’s an international with plenty of experience. He plays in the attacking position. He scores goals and gets assists. He also plays in the MLS, but his record is sufficiently impressive as to leave little doubt that he’d do a good job for us. If the manager had a choice between those three players this is the one he would choose, and I do not doubt it.
His name is Daniel Gazdag. So why wouldn’t the club just give the manager what he wants? Because he’d be expensive – estimates between £8 million and £10 million – and he’s 28. And because this board cares not one whit for improving the team but about getting “value” – about what you could sell someone on for – there is virtually no chance of this happening, regardless of what the manager might want and regardless of what he could deliver on the pitch.
The club would regard that money as wasted. Because the board has a different view of what our priorities are than the manager does.
To put his name on this list is absolute window dressing. This has been given to Joseph by someone close to the club to give us the impression that the club is seriously considering it; I don’t believe for one minute that the club is seriously considering any such thing. Indeed, the denial from Russell Martin has rendered the three-man short-list ridiculous anyway and the whole thing is clearly intended to make us sound busy without us actually being busy.
Nobody should be fooled by any of this. This is a trick we’ve seen over and over again from people close to the club, and it’s highly unimpressive and even insulting to our intelligence, and it’s an insult to Anthony Joseph’s intelligence as well.
Yesterday I appeared on the Graham Spiers podcast to discuss this window. You can listen to it below.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-is-celtics-109169700
Whether it’s true or not James 8 to 10 million is not that big a jump up in scale for us ,if we supposedly have 70 million in the bank and at least 30 million from CL and possibly money from outgoing transfers surely that 10 million is good value for money on a decent player,who is exactly what BR wants.