What level of player can we reasonably expect to attract?

It seems that, rather than closing the bridge between ourselves and Ajax, Porto and Benfica, we're now being taken over by sides like Red Bull Salzburg and Basel.

I'd like to gauge what people are wanting from the board in the transfer market. Given the current climate, with no competition domestically and no guarantee of European - let alone Champions League - football, what players would a) not only stop keep us at the same level but actually help redress the gap between us and the second tier sides (Ajax, Porto, Benfica) and b) still be at a stage in their career where they would find Celtic an attractive option?

In my opinion, there's a very narrow band of players that satisfy both criteria.

We've managed to pluck some gems out of nowhere in recent years: Wanyama, Lustig, Van Dijk. However, I don't think any of us would have anything at all about these players before they signed. So how can we be excited or disappointed when we're linked with players we don't know? What may appear to be downsizing, may simply be us getting it wrong. We, as fans, are playing blind.

That's not a defence of the board, we should have done something before now, but perhaps we simply can no longer attract players we know.

 

The type of player who feels he is not getting enough exposure to the EPL managers. Many players will just see us as a stepping stone.

 

As I said in another thread, we're going to be in the market for players commanding anywhere up to around £2.5 million to £3 million in transfer fees.

Anywhere above that and there will most likely be a few English sides sniffing around which will see us bid out of the running.

We need to keep looking for younger players available in the bracket I mentioned, get a few years out of them, sell them on for a profit and continue the cycle.

I actually don't think we're downsizing. We're doing just fine, but everyone loses the place after a * result. It's happened for as long as I can remember.

 

Young players who want to play in England, simple as that. We can offer champions league football and a close enough proximity to the premier league that they can become known faces. Ideally from leagues outside of Western Europe where prices are higher.

As I said in the Lennon thread to my mind the aim should be to climb the ladder of who we can sign. We sell a few players at 3/4/5 million and we can then start to purchase in that range, sell them at 8/9/10 and start buying at 5, sell the 5s for 10/12 and so on. Always evolving, always improving.

Not buying everyone at 900k and praying they're a Wanyama rather than a Ibrahim

 

We are in a tough * place at the minute,most guys coming here will have only one thing in mind....the big shinny epl.
Normally that would be fine but when we lost the spine of our team in one window it really set us back big time.
We should have no more than 1 player leaving per window unless it suits us.
I am not even sure what we is spending is a big problem because a big signing can fail as easily as a player costing 1 million.

I think we need to take more care over who we sign and get it right more often than we are and we need to get anyone coming here who is heading for the epl to sign longer contracts.
If they sign on a 5 year contract it would give us the chance to keep them 3 years and still get a good return on a player with 2 years left on his contract.

I would also like us to try more loan and free players but pay the money we save in wages,maybe that way when we find a FF or VVD or Wanyama we have a better chance of them staying.

 

They are the ones that dont work for us. Shopping for prospects in the lesser leagues has proved more successful.

 

As I've said before, the problem we'll run into with that logic is that the players who are being touted at £5 million and upwards are nine times out of ten attracting attention from England.

That immediately slaps an extra few million on the price tag and normally kickstarts a bidding war, which we can't compete with.

We need to be looking for players at the £2.5 million to £3 million range and looking to get a few years out of them before moving them on at profit.

What we do with that profit is what matters. Trying to sign players for £5 million who will nine times out of ten turn us down for Norwich or Fulham isn't an option.

We have to invest a lot more money in our scouting network and our youth teams. The best way of getting these £5 million or £6 million players is by signing them before they turn the heads of the money sides.

 

See that's what I thought we were doing.

We've been consistently selling our best players for ~10 million.

We seem to be afraid to pay big money for players, incase it doesn't work out.

We need to start buying proven young players who are going to cost more than what we are paying just now and not hoping that a 1 million pound signing is going to be a Wanyama.

Finabogasson should have been bought for £6 million and if he had a decent season in Europe we could have sold him for over £15 million.

 

Or, we simply can't attract players who go for "big money".

It's all too easy to say "aye, just buy so and so for £5 million, sell the * for £10 million, nae bother".

What if the £5 million players agent says "Yeah, thanks for getting in touch. The £5 million valuation has actually changed, as we've had interest from Norwich, Fulham and QPR, who are all willing to actually pay £7 million now. Oh, and he's been offered £45,000 a week. Can you match that?"

 

Very good point.

There's a glass ceiling for is due to the league we play in imo. In a decade we 'be gone from a side who could compete with 2nd tier BPL sides for signings to a side who compete with Championship sides. That's quite a regression and mainly down the the restrictions placed upon us by the league we play in.

 

In all honesty we should bite the bullet and ask a bigger, richer club for a loan agreement. I know no Celtic fan will be happy to see us turn into a Vitesse Arnhem for example, but ego aside i'd have * loved the players Chelsea have sent to Belgium over the last couple of years.

I think Ajax have a similar agreement with Barca, where they get a couple La Masia youngsters over who are normally quality.

 

So people aren't happy that we are now seen as a "selling club", and you're wanting us to turn into a * creche?

 

If there are going to be any new players bought it will be from Scandanavian, African or Asian markets or lower league European players.
Either that or some half decent loan players but doubt they will be of the quality that we need.


They also need to get a grip in the boardroom and buy players BEFORE the start of the European campaign, preferably in the January transfer window which gives them time to settle into the team ready for the start of Europe.

 

The players brought in will be of a similar level of the ones we've signed recently. We just need to hope there's a Wanyama, Forster, Virgil or Hooper in among them.

 

Scandinavian, Eastern European not wanted by Russian or Germany Clubs and 'projects'.

 

I think the only problem is that we haven't got the balance right. Ajax for example will only sign to replace or improve upon players. They will try to pick up the best of the talent in the Eredivisie by offering higher wages than the other Dutch clubs, while also scouting internationally for players who have flown under the radar as we have done. Finally they promote from their youth ranks the best performers at that level and loan out some who may be just shy of the correct level. This then gives them a pool of hopefully improving or under-valued players to sell on at a huge profit.

We have managed to use the international market well, by and large, but seem to have focussed on it unduly. This might mean that as we go down the list of players our scouting team has proposed, there are greater risks either in value or talent. We have left the better performing Scottish Prem players largely untouched, bar Griffiths, and have not developed youth as well as we could have in first team terms. This means we are never going have as diversified a talent pool as the likes of Ajax.

Finally we do not do the last thing Ajax do which is spend. They don't do it often or in huge amounts but they do it all the same. Sometimes one addition of greater quality, albeit with a slightly price or wage, can improve the team as a whole, and winning puts your team in the shop window! Basically very slight speculation to accumulate in terms of a better end result.

 

At the moment we have far too many players of roughly the same standard . Nearly good enough but not quite there . Maybe they are not quite there in the manager's eye . For example last season Lennon thought Henderson and Biton were near enough there . This year with Brown missing Deila seems to overlook both .
When it comes to attracting players in , I think agents are telling money clubs from the bottom end of the EPL that Celtic are sniffing around , reminding clubs of the successful scouting of the like of Victor and Ki . If any EPL team comes in for a player we are interested we are out or else we finish up with a Balde . If we could sign one good prospect every transfer window they plus our own academie players should keep us right .

 

We do spend, it's proven.

 

As I said bite the bullet rather than living in denial.

I don't think too many people would be upset if we got the likes of Tello and Delofeu on loan for a season would they?

I bet Everton fans got their knickers in a twist last season by loaning players from Chelsea and Barca, but it got them to a higher finish than they could ever have imagined.