Go Ahead Eagles forward Jakob Breum and AFC Ajax Amsterdam midfielder Davy Klaassen play during the match between Ajax and Go Ahead Eagles at the Johan Cruijff ArenA for the Dutch Eredivisie season 2024-2025 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on February 23, 2025. (Photo by Jules van Iperen / EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The news has broken tonight that Celtic have failed in yet another bid to sign the winger, Jakob Breum, from Go Ahead Eagles. It’s not surprising in the least.
Apparently, we’re now up to three rejected offers: one for £1.5 million, one for £1.75 million plus add-ons, and a third for £3 million.
Now, I’m not in the school of thought that says we should just pay whatever a club demands—but we do know exactly what this particular club wants for the player. And here’s the rub: we’re expecting this guy to replace Nicolas Kühn in the Celtic team.
That’s what he’s being signed to do. A player we’re hoping will come in and replicate what Kühn brought to the side should surely be worth what Go Ahead Eagles are asking.
If we don’t think he’s worth that sort of money, then maybe we’re after the wrong player. But if we do think he’s an adequate replacement for Kühn, then he is worth the fee—and we should start negotiating properly.
When they’ve set a £6.5 million asking price, any offer that falls as far short as ours have is going to be rejected.
In fact, they’ll be seen as insulting.
And I do wonder if that’s not the point. Because these aren’t serious negotiating attempts. We’re offering half of what they want for a player we expect to replace someone we just sold for nearly £17 million.
Let me put it in even starker terms: we paid £3.5 million for Kühn in the first place. So, we’re already offering less than that for his replacement.
That’s a joke. That’s not to be taken seriously. That’s a club going through the motions rather than actually trying to get a deal done.
This is why Rodgers is frustrated. This is why he gets so regularly and visibly frustrated. And this is why some of us have been saying for years that this club needs a clear separation between the bean-counters and the football department.
The football people should be given a budget at the start of the campaign and told to get on with it. How they spend it should be up to them. If they don’t spend it wisely, replace them. But let them run the show. Let them decide what a player is worth—not some suit who couldn’t identify a footballer in a two-man line-up.
Why don’t we have a football department that operates that way? Simple: it would mean people on the board giving up some level of control. And they don’t want to do that. They want to control the transfer policy. They think they’re qualified to do so. And as long as they labour under that gigantic delusion—one that’s been repeatedly and demonstrably false—they’ll keep doing it.
If that means the manager gets second-guessed, so be it. If it means he doesn’t get the players he wants, so be it. If it means he eventually walks because he’s not being backed properly, so be it.
These people do not care.
They think they know more than the man in the dugout.
The one consistent thing about them is that they do not negotiate in good faith. Not with agents, not with clubs. They try to squeeze every last penny out of every deal, and they are abysmal at forward planning or strategic thinking.
If they think this guy is overpriced at £6.5 million, they may want to look at their own behaviour. They might want to consider the utter stupidity of selling Kühn for so much money before we had a replacement in the building.
Because the second you sell one of your best players and rake in a hefty sum, everyone knows the position you’re now desperate to fill. And they know you’ve got cash to spend. So if the player suddenly seems overpriced, that’s likely because they slapped £2 million on top the moment we made the sale—and that’s our fault, not theirs.
The only question we should be asking is this: can this guy do for us what Kühn did? Is he good enough to play that role? And if he is, you pay what the market says he’s worth. Simple as that.
The offers we’ve made so far—if the reports are accurate—are a joke. An embarrassment. They’re not serious efforts to get the player. They’re just a piss-take—window dressing to make it look as though we’re working hard to fulfil the manager’s brief.
Brendan Rodgers will not be fooled by that—not for one minute.
It’s time these people stopped messing around and got some business done and if they won’t or can’t do it, then this club needs to be restructured and someone put in place who will.
It’s embarrassing the way this shower attempts to do business.
Celtic probably do have a budget, it’s probably the profit we make from sales and player fees who go out on loan.
This summer alone that adds up to about £25m.
Will have spent about £5m to date, will we spend the rest?
Seems like they are pretending to sign team ready players. They are making too much money out of Celtic to give their power up, all on a massive ego trip.
If I went into a bakers shop to buy a loaf and there was only one left on the shelf that I was then asked to pay double for, I know I would leave it there and head to another bakers shop for a better deal.
Just saying like……..we still have time, no need to panic just yet.
If you sold a loaf of bread for a tenner and found a replacement loaf you thought was just as good for 3 quid you wouldn’t pay it?
Huh? How is that in any way comparable to the analogy Johnny just used? Makes absolutely no sense.
When buying and selling loaves, it does indeed all depend on the dough.
Geez piece, away back to CQN happy clapper.
I know I’ve spelt peace wrong!! You frustrate me so much with your constant defence of our board I lose the ability to spell.
Johnny Green,the lurking green hun.
Leave it to the accountants on the board, They know best don’t they?
Deja vu almost every fuxing season for the last 20 years, apart from Ange’s tenure, and the common denominator the ‘Mam’ himself who made sure he was paid what he thought HE was worth.
The Football Club will never move ahead until the PLC and The Football Club Operations are separate. The ‘Goals / ambitions’ of the two entities are not commensurate. The PLC’s mission should be to fund the Football Department and protect the Share Price which are nor mutually exclusive aims for a modern Board. The Board should focus on growing their Commercial, Advertising, Sponsorship and Broadcasting Revenues to satisfy the needs of the Football Operations and Institutional Investor demand for dividends.
A properly funded and autonomous Football Operations should have a seat on the Board and answerable to the Board. Budget for the Football Operations Dept should be agreed on an annual or fixed period to cover Transfers, wages and other operational costs, Coaching, Medical, Scouting & Recruitment. Profits on Transfers out can be split between the two Operations or carried forward against the next budget cycle with the appropriate adjustments.
This isn’t ‘Rocket Science’ or ‘New Age’ thinking. It’s the norm at most big Clubs and is just Common Sense. It would remove a lot of the current friction between the two half’s of the Business and go a long way to relieving Fan’s angst and help to manage expectations.
The only barrier is the Board or the ‘Man’ has to yield authority. On past experience as long as the Board in its current composition remains intact and in thrall to Lawwell then things will continue as is and we’ll be discussing this every January and Summer.
I apologise for my earlier flippant comment, it was just a wind-up.
In reality, if his Club values him at double our assessment of his skills, then we should not be bidding for him at all, Our offer is actually an insult under the circumstances.
Johnny the problem with our board that most Celtic fans agree on is that they just seem to make money to pay themselves bigger bonuses and to hell with the team,and I’ve noticed the longer this goes on more and more fans are beginning to resent liewell and co.as was pointed out in video celts,this guy we’re supposedly trying to sign to replace Kuhn,the Celtic board think he’s only worth a tenth of what we received for Kuhn,17 million and we put a derisory bid of 1.7 million for his replacement, work that one out, another matter of this board that pisses off most fans is the lies and evasise tactics,the board always say it’s hard to complete transfers into the club ,but they never seem to find it hard to transfer out players ie grab money,I think Johnny going by most of the blogs you and wotakuhn are about the only ones who still believe in this board and I think most fans have seen enough and at the end of their tether,as regards what to do I’m at a loss but until we stop jumping in to buy STs and merchandise,or boycott a couple of matches nothing will change so we’re stuck with this lot.
What I believe ivenogoatwan is that we cannot do without a board, there is no alternative, we live with what we have got because there is SFA that any of us can do about it. CFC and the Board are like ‘love and marriage’ ‘ a horse and carriage’…..you can’t have one without the other….and no amount of greetin and girnin is going to change that. They are in the driving seat buddy and they don’t give two hoots about their passengers wishes. I comfort myself with the thoughts that it could be a damned sight worse.
Oh, and as regards the big bonuses, yes it is scandalous and every big Company in the World pay their senior executives that sort of money. I will never ever agree with blatant greed, but once again we are farting against thunder. But to hell with all that, let’s just enjoy the success that we are all so utterly deserving of. 🙂
So here we are again and again and again, Said it for years,get back to the days when a manager was in charge fully,all these departments etc,nonsense,give him the budget and let him get on with it,lowballing again,would we allow Kuhn to go for 8 million, NO,GET IT DONE FFS
My piss take last night did work though. I got quite a reaction. I knew Pilgrim would bite, he’s easy. But what about Chris, who he, he called me a ‘green hun’ LOL, what an incongruous combination of words, it makes no sense whatsoever.
I know two Mr Green’s (not with The Christian Name Johnny admittedly) and guess who they support…
Clue : – It’s not Hibernian nor Celtic FC…
It’s a club that’s as of today 12 years and 364 days old, they have five letters in their name, it begins with the letter “S” and most people on CQN and Wallow Wallow call it by it’s wrong name !
Admittedly Clach, I know two Greens, one’s a Tim the other one happens to be a hun as well.
However, my surname isn’t Green, that is just the colour of my blood. 🙂
James take a look at the article the BOOZE JOCKEY AKA pizza face Keith Jackass Jackson has put out today in the daily sevco,you need to do one of your piss takes on it.
Yes, Stephen I have been expecting an article on that as well.
A little off topic – but did I see it reported on the weekend that Russell Martin was sent off for demanding a penalty in a friendly by none other than John Beaton? I thought Martin was supposed to be a calm, zen-like character…what do they put in the water over there?
I know it’s only talk and a probable loan move but I like the sound of bringing in Jahmai Simpson-Pusey from City. Naturally I, like most, would prefer a permanent move for him or an alternative but if we don’t get that then I’m okay with it.
I’ve seen him play a few times for City and he’s a big strong boy with pace and bags of developing potential.
I can hear the groans already about that status of move but talent’s talent. We certainly couldn’t afford him and if it frees up money for a DCM, speedy winger/s and forward of class if Daizen isn’t a stick on then why not.
LB seems to be an issue still but I just wonder if Brendan’s been smitten by Inamura’s performances and preparing to take a punt knowing we have Scales as an option.
Ivenogotwan; I can’t ignore your comment to Johnny. In no way do I support this board, at best they’re suffice and most definitely and annoyingly prudent.
At worse they’re too careful, particularly in bringing in earlier the experienced players that we need and that would keep you quiet, well quieter; but they’re also bordering on totally ineffective if the don’t bring said players in in the next couple of weeks. I have said I’d back calls for their removal if not.
I’ve been around a long time, played a bit and even alongside a certain Brendan Rodgers with Newport on the Isle of Wight who he went on to coach/manager.
I respect Brendan a lot but I know how it works at board level and we are powerless until the whole fan base rises up. That time is not yet here and angry division amongst the support won’t achieve that
Pusey would definitely be a good addition for us, no matter the deal. Man City don’ sign inferior players and we have done well from them previously with Paddy Roberts, Denayer, Boyata and Frimpong. Let’s hope it comes to something.
Ok wotakuhn,fair point mate ,I like so many others get so frustrated with this board dragging it’s heels over transfers ,it’s not just this one it’s every one, remember when Strachan wanted Steve Fletcher he could have got the goals to win us the league that year,and the low balling we do trying to get players for peanuts but selling ours as high as we can,then the board blame the selling team for knocking back our derisory offers,and what about the whole Mcginn saga,where liewell thought all he had to do was wait ,but that backfired spectacularly, another point is why did Rodgers come back to the same board and scenario he bolted from the first time round,is he now just happy to rake in his 3 million and keep his head down,this whole situation with the money we have is very strange,no one suggests we can spend 15 million on 1 player but these lowball offers the board put forward make us look cheap and unprofessional, imagine liewells reaction if a team had offered 1.7 for Kuhn.
I personally feel sick to the pit of my stomach EVERY transfer window but this is defo the worst. It has reminded me of a conversation I had with a customer i had at work but paid no heed to it at the time as I thought the guy was a bit of a name dropper. However i googled the guy and he was indeed a former owner of a fairly big scottish football club,multi millionaire and according to him he has always been a season ticket holder at Parkhead and mingles with the hobnobs on matchday. This conversation took pllace a week or so after Paul Tisdale was appointed and he assured me that BR was not happy about it and would leave. I don,t know how much of that is true, as I said, at the time i paid it lip service but now there has to be serious questions asked about why we are not signing players. As for Paul Tisdale, who is he and what exactly does he do. Maybe the guy who I was speaking to does know more than the average fan.
Despite all the talk of of no Kuhn replacement, I still have a feeling he is already in the building, Benjamin Nygren. I’m not sure what Brendan has been up to with him, playing him in midfield where we are already awash with midfielders, is he trying to scare them into working harder with this new threat, or is he genuinely attempting to turn him into a midfield maestro. At his previous club he played predominately on the right wing and I still think Brendan is intending to slot him in there, we will find out soon enough.
I actually think Nygren is a replacement for Matt O’Reilly.
Said before that some players will be keeping their options open until nearer to the window closing.
Perhaps Celtic qualifying for the CL will make it easier to attract players of a better quality.
HH
Terry we have Callum, Hatate, Bernardo, McCowan and Engels, in no particular order, all competing for 3 places….and then we add Nygren to the mix, It seems a bit non sensical to me, especially when the only addition that actually might make a real difference in that department would be a tough guy with a bit of dig that could also play good football, another Broonie if you like. Nygren is not that man.
Unless of course we sold a couple of them, I suppose that’s possible’
Due to the five sub rule I don’t expect any of the six including Callum next season to last 90 minutes.
I think it is quite plausible that the starting three will all be replaced during the game.
You also have to expect some injuries.
HH
BTW If it’s a choice between Brendan and the board, or at least the chosen few suspects, I’m with Brendan. I’ve watched his development with interest for several decades and he’s had his ups and downs. At times I could get angry with him too particularly around his structural rigidity and to some extent conformity.
Experience shows anger only affects and hurts the angry, breaks and divides. There’s no point to it or the childish name calling. School’s out.
IMO Brendan’s no elite but he is a very good manager and probably the best we can achieve at Celtic atm. He’s always talked a good game above his own ability as a defender layer but he is a very good coach and needs the support of the board but he’s ambitious also and will only take so much before he decides he’s off. For the record I’d rather he didn’t.
As for the huns I agree guys it’s not over yet. The current team is vulnerable still but Martin does appear though to be putting a squad together particularly if rumours of incomings or even some of them come to fruition. Head to head they schooled us last season and if they reduce those results against the other SPL teams well, they’ll be a challenge so all the more reason to get experience and talent in. I know James was dead against Calvert Lewin (If that’s how it’s spelled) but I think it would be a good interim shout if affordable. HH
Interesting story Tonyr, regarding Brendan’s reported dissatisfaction with Paul Tisdale’s appointment. Did the individual concerned offer any explanation as to why Brendan was annoyed at the appointment? He did seem to be publicly supportive.
H didn t say much other than BR didn,t want him or anybody else in that job,sorry. Thought at the time it was a load of nonsense. Not so sure now.
tonyr, Was the guy’s first name Alex?