Aaron Mooy

I think context is needed. I'm happy with the signing. I'm unhappy he's the only midfielder we have went for. Any argument or disagreement I have had on here with regards to Mooy isn't about him as a footballer or a person. I think he will do well here, when he gets the chance. That's a big part of it for me. He's not getting into the first team 11 in the majority of our matches and rightfully shouldn't. However, as a player to come in and give McGregor a rest or to let some of the other guys take a breather, step in for injuries or what not? Yeah, happy enough with it.

Do I think we should have signed a younger guy like Vera or Michut for a few million so that we could have another money gem with a bit more legs? Yeah, I do. Again though, it's a really good addition to the squad for free. Does it improve our starting 11? No but it certainly reduces the gap in a couple of positions when some of our starting 11 are out.

 

I suspect he'll be starting regularly once he's up to speed.

 

Eh he played for st mirren? Honestly couldn’t remember that at all

 

Pretty pleased with this signing, relatively low risk and he’s a great player.

Granted he doesn’t improve our first 11 dramatically but he’s a better option than McCarthy and Gucci. He’s also a much different player than Turnbull or O’Reilly.

Hope we can bring in another couple of bodies including a marque signing. Think another winger and another body in midfield

 

Not sure what to think of this. With his age and a lack of gametime in recent years, it feels a bit like a James McCarthy signing. Here primarily to add some experience and provide cover for injuries. I've been wrong about Ange's signings before so let's see.

 

Seen a few people compare it to the McCarthy signing. Same age yes, but Mooy hasn’t played regular football due to the Chinese League being halted due to Covid. McCarthy hadn’t played due to being constantly injured. The two situations are completely different.

 

"If you like Rogic you will love Mooy".

"Mooy will allow McGregor to play further forward".

Rogic never "allowed McGregor to play further forward", so I really don't get that comment that a few have said. Where is Mooy going to play? As a six when resting McGregor against the dross? As one of the 8s in rotation?

 

Some seem to think that Gavin Berry story was a hoax.

Wouldn't have a clue myself - either story seems plausible.

 

did o riley improve our team when he signed, was he a starter? same with hart etc... you need to trust ange and what him and his team see in the player. a free signing with premier league and international experience is certainly a safe option esp on a free. he seems to have a hard work ethic, can pick a defence with a pass and isnt pushed about. but i still think we need a midfield enforcer. open mind and back the player - sometimes esp in closing out european games the wiser head can make those crucial decisions as opposed to younger players (something we havent done well in the last 8 years in europe)

 

Agree with this. At the end of the day, we moan about not having better options off the bench currently. Mooy on the face of it will improve the options. If we can snap up a free to help the squad and use the funds to bring in players to improve the starting lineup, then I’m not against it. I just hope Mooy hasn’t been signed as our holding midfielder, as I would be disappointed with that, as I don’t think he is the answer for that role. I’m not against the signing however.

 

Celtic Star are gullible *. What a brass neck posting that.

 

I very much doubt he’s signed for us to be a back up.

 

Any chance we'll see him get 30 minutes today, or too soon?

 

a successful team is players who fight to get into the first 11. it is a long season ahead and lots of games come thick and fast. my only fear is that as a team we are small which in scotland can be a challenge at times, esp away from homes defending free kicks and corners etc. a physical enforcer to sit in front of the back four and win breaking balls would be great.

 

Are you seriously asking if Hart improved our first team? Of course he did. Hart or Barkas/Bain? Tough one!

Again, context needed. Had we signed a 31 year old Aaron Mooy in January instead of O'Riley or Hatate when we needed midfielders, I'd have been happy for him to come in and play his part, like O'Riley did. That's not to say I'm against the signing but I would be very disappointed if we didn't bring in a strong/physical defensive midfielder.

People need to stop comparing signing players last year and this year. We were absolutely DESPERATE for bodies last season. Literally stretched so far. My issue with this is, Mooy has been a free agent or knew he was going to be a free agent for how long? 5/6 months? He's been training in Scotland for the last 8 weeks apparently because he didn't want to go back to China with their COVID laws at the minute.

If he really was our first choice, he could have been training with us for the last few months, getting up to speed and playing some games for us in the friendlies we have played so far. That's why I think it's a lazy signing. Not a signing I'm completely against by the way, I just think it's lazy, comes across as missing out on your first choice, which I'm in no doubt we have done and then plugging the gap with a completely different kind of player.

That then goes all the way round. You have a guy who has been training alone for 8 weeks, that the manager knew and liked, in the same country and we weren't able to get this deal over the line until the 19th of July? Come on now. He hasn't played in China since the 9th of January and made it quite clear that he wouldn't be going back with the current laws in place.

The point of this is, this window was meant to be different than the last summer window where we were frantically trying to get bodies in the door. We were going to take our time, have our eyes on multiple different targets for different positions. As I said, Mooy as a back up is good enough business, especially on a free but we are basically being told that our business is done unless something really good comes up. *, even in January we seemed to have a set of targets and we had been linked with the 3 japanese boys for weeks on end before they were actually confirmed in January. Even the McGree failure. We missed out on him and bang, less than a week later we have O'Riley signed.

With this Mooy signing, it was like we were linked with one player who seemed to fit the bill, Souza. We were close. Ultimately, we lost out on him and our back up option seems to be a guy on a free, who's been here for the last couple of months and is out of contract and has a completely different set of attributes than the main target. It's just a lazy signing.

He has my full support. I'm just trying to put things into perspective from where I'm coming from because I have probably been over critical of the signing. I don't think he's a bad player at all. I think it's a worthwhile signing because even though it doesn't strengthen our first 11, it certainly narrows the gap between the first teamers and people like McCarthy/Ideguchi. So, in that sense, I'm all for it. I do believe we need another midfielder and it needs to be a physical defensive midfielder.

 

His contract with Shanghai wasn’t terminated until July 6th.

 

He and Jenz didn’t travel

 

Scored against Rangers as well.