Vasilios Barkas (GK)

His choice we move on

 

I have no doubt that Forster was stalling Celtic to hang on while he assessed his options and we said no and moved on. Rightly so also.

 

Honestly didn't think we would pay £6m for a GK, fair play to the board.

 

I don't mean he owed us to sign on however there was a clearly an agreement in place to the point we allowed Gordon leave on the strength of it. So the way I see it hes went back on his word after Gordon has left us knowing we have lost a first team keeper than went back on his word

 

I think you could be right. Something fishy there. Forster might be kicking himself now

 

It seems our ceiling for transfer fees has been raised, and rightly so when you look at the vast amounts that get thrown about in Europe.

Obviously we can't afford to do that but I'm glad the board have finally started moving up the bracket to £6-10m for first team level players. Will help us when selling on as we now have a proven track record of good quality ~£20m sales with Moussa and KT.

Good stuff Celtic, centre half and winger next

 

Football inflation really.

Before we were shopping in the £1.5 - 4m bracket and selling our best players for £10-13m (Forster, Wanyama, Van Dijk)

We're now selling guys for £20m & £25m and when Eddie does go he'll push that up even further.

That said GK is one position that you could probably scrimp on and get by in Scotland, so it's good to see that the board is backing Lennon. They seen the impact a top class GK had in Europe and the LC Final and they've decided we can't afford to go cheap and drop off in quality again.

I'm pleased with our signings so far this window. Lennon asked for quality and we're getting it in Moi, Ajeti and Barkas. A few more and then the job moves on to tying Christie and Eddie down to longer-term contracts.

 

Especially when Marshall was available on a free... They’ve pulled it out the bag this time!

 

Dont even think its as much as that.. some reports suggesting £5.5m after the add ons if we qualify for the champions league over the next four years.

Fingers crossed he makes it through the medical. Knowing our luck he will have a piece of glass lodged in his cruciate ligament that will cause it to snap if removed.

 

This is the most pleasing bit for me too mate. People were saying Lennon would be a yes man or a cheap option after the snake but the board have shown a lot of trust in him and so they should considering some of the players he's brought in over his first stint with us.

Quality over quantity as cliche as it is but we should be getting 3/4 first team ready additions most windows while selling 1 or 2 of our best assets each year or so. Hopefully we get CL this season to attract an even higher calibre of player in.

 

100% mate.

CB was an issue for us for years and the rat brought in Toure whose legs were gone, Compper (lol) and Hendry (bigger lol)

Lennon comes in and gets it right 1st time with Julien.

RB again an issue for years and the rat brought in Gamboa and Toljan.

Lennon comes in and gets it right 1st time with Elhamed (albeit bad injuries) and Frimpong for £300k.

The board have more faith in Lennon delivering than they did with the rat and his clown of a scout.

 

Yeah mad that a semi-retired Toure was the best CB he signed

For all his qualities, the snake really couldn't build a team from scratch the way Lennon has had to in his career.

It's such a good fit just now, Lenny knows the model of the club in terms of player cycles and selling, youth development, the standards expected in Europe.

Credit to Nick Hammond as well - it's hard to know what he's been involved with and same with Lennon but between them I'm confident they will find good value for money. Jullien and Elhamed look like bargains and Klimala and Soro seem to have the potential. Good times ahead

 

I could be wrong but I think with Hammond's time at West Brom and Reading we've benefitted from his network for signing Elyounoussi and Ajeti.

As you say it's looking much better than what we've had in previous years and the board seem to be understanding the benefit in speculating a bit more now.

 

You’ve summed that up brilliantly. Lennon’s eye for a player is far better.

Rodgers still living off Congerton spotting Coutinho.

 

Where’s the lawell haters ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Aye, said he spotted him before any other big clubs had...turns out he had been training with Real Madrid the previous summer and offered a trial at Chelsea

I'm not a hater but I've been critical of Lawwell in the past, in my opinion rightly at times. Going into CL qualifiers under-strength or having long protracted transfer sagas for the sake of relatively inconsequential amounts have seen us lose out on players or qualification to the group stages.

I'm happy to see that there's now a marked change in our policy though - acting much quicker in the market with Moi & the Forster loan deal and now spending big to replace Forster. For that I'm happy to give him praise.

 

Credit where it is due, it sounds like we are getting our GK target after Forster turned us down. Also the striker deal seems a good one.

However it doesn’t mean we haven’t made a mess of transfers in pre CL qualifiers in the past.

If he can bring a CB in, a LB and another winger and find a buyer for Boli and Bayo then he will have earned his money.

 

You just have to look at our strike rate so far..

Mo. Ajeti. Barkas..

If nothing goes wrong that is 3 very talented coups from across the continent and all at good ages..

We were all screaming for quality over quantity and have done for a long time. We're managing to shift more and more deadwood now since Lenny has been in and him and Hammon seem to be getting it right..

Left back is probably the only position we haven't got bang on so far. I think we'll bring another in there though..

Definitely good signs as has been mentioned. Spending 6 mill on a keeper to be our main man from Greece is a big signal of intent. Ajeti with a possible 5 mill fee in his loan is another bit of class business..

 

I wanted the board to unleash everything to buy Forster, but a £6M transfer expenditure is at least inspiring.

 

They were never going to fork out £8m+ on a guy who as good as he is, is at the end of his career and still on a huge wage too.

A loan would've been our preferred option at board level and FF clearly didn't want to be in the same boat this time next year.