Celtic's 2025/26 Summer transfer window: needed and wanted!

You would be hoping we would sell those three centre backs anyway. I would have thought the level of who comes in would depend on CCV and Trusty’s future more than those three.

It’s the same with wingers, Yang, Tilio and Palma are all not good enough and need moved on but if we are targeting a starter it would be more down to Kuhn and Maeda’s futures.

Or centre midfield Kwon and Holm aren’t good enough and the jury is out on Bernardo but if Hatate or Engels goes then we definitely need a starter.

The squad has plenty of numbers it’s just about 10 of them are nowhere near the level. Arguably left back is the only position we don’t have numbers.

 

Gustav and Welsh have offers from elsewhere


Palma also has offers with America still being mentioned



Don’t see Yang going anywhere

 

• Grant Hanley
• Oli Burke
• Oli mcburnie
• Scott McKenna

 

With Yang, he must do so at least until Jota is back. We won't be signing 3 wingers just to improve on the 5. choice winger. Either Trusty or Scales will leave. No chance both do.

That from Notorious at the suggested list of 4 names, plus our need for a CB makes me think we'll try Scott McKenna.

 

Follow the path and you’ll find the destination

 

We have the luxury of not having to sell in order to buy so we should be looking to get 2 or 3 targets in early and then worry about shifting the deadwood.

If we make our business dependent on moving players on first before signing its a recipe for a shitshow of getting nobody in til deadline day which we cant afford this year.

 

Ya, fair enough if he’s third-choice, because he’s already proven that he can’t be relied upon.

 

If we go into CL-qualifiers/CL games depending on Yang, then, heads should roll.

 

Agreed. I can never understand how fans can see blatant issues with certain players but managers can’t. Scales is okay for league games, perhaps, but he should be nowhere near European games or derbies.

 

Scales has had some great games against Rangers and in the Champions League.
Brendan won't be dropping Scalesy anytime soon.

But as for Trusty...

 

He’s had too many dodgy games all around, though. He’s very poor in possession and always seems one pass away from disaster. He’s been inclined to get caught too far forward on occasion as well. He’s too risky overall if we want the team to progress, IMHO.

Agreed that Trusty doesn’t seem like the answer either, unfortunately.

 

For that to happen, to progress, you are talking about needing to sign a CB north of £10M, and I don't see Celtic being too keen to venture that far, given the previous outlays on Engels and Idah.

I think most of our problems stem from a weak and disjointed midfield. Fix that this summer transfer window, with Tierney back, and Sinisalo installed as our No.1 goalkeeper and I think you looking at an impregnable Celtic defence again.

 

Think the Cb depends on outgoing because if it's ccv going for a big offer then we would expect a 5 to 10m replacement. If he stays amd we still sign another ot depends on either Scales or Trusty going

 

Thats actually fair enough, so let me clarify something i thought was pretty clear with what I wrote at the beginning of the post.

The whole pass/fail metric was a lazy one; but still, wholly based on a single season of fan perspective and value for money. Its not clinging on to assume fans expectations are aligned with transfer fees and wages.

For clarification, I like Engles, and have every confidence he will develop, evolve and thrive at Celtic. As I said I think our midfield dynamic has more to do with his "fail" than his ability or potential.

Trusty i still rate way higher than Scales, and believe hes the type of player who needs stability and consistency to perform.

Idah i dont rate. Its not that I dont believe he can score, if we're being totally honest, any striker in Scotland with our other 10 behind him should be hitting those numbers. Dressers ended up the leagues top scorer ffs, and hes utterly hopeless.

The common theme among all of them, especially those three, is that they dont represent a success in terms of fan perspective, over the course of their individual impact.

Fans are not only fickle, but extremely impatient. If we pay 10m for a striker they expect to see a 15-20m pound striker leading the line. Not a 5m pound one, which i think is a more accurate evaluation of Idah. For 10m they expect a striker to be doing Larsson numbers, and honestly, putting any argument about who the best striker in the league is to bed almost immediately. A la Moussa Dembele.

Fans believe, agree or not, that a 10m pound striker is one that we wont hold onto for very long. Can you honestly see any team paying out 10m to take Idah off our hands?

Fans dont believe they should have wait of Engels settling in. They expected a world beater off the bat in line with his outlay.

When expectations like these aren't met immediately, fans will criticise the purchase, the fee, and point to other options that might have been cheaper for the same level of performance.

But back to point, the entire purpose of the post was that this is a CRUCIAL window. Potential is fine, but we dont have the luxury of paying over the odds for players who will either need time, or who perform at a level thats not in line with their valuation.

For example; we desperately need a more physical and dynamic midfielder in there. We need that player NOW. Not in a year or two after they settle in.

We desperately need a back up LB. Not a project, but a player who can come in when needed, and perform at a certain level where any prolonged absence of KT doesnt alter the team performance.

Simply put, we need ready to go reinforcements that can have a direct impact and RAISE our performance level in line with the fee we pay.

Its arguable that performance wise, this season has been worse than last seasons, with a very large amount of money spent to improve it.

 

Surely we should be able to sign someone to displace Scales for well less than £10M. It's actually shocking that we haven't been able to yet. Just my opinion.

 

There are out of contract cbs we could get for free that are better than scales.

No excuse not to be looking to upgrade that position.

If we dont, especially with ccv picking up more injuries then the ambition to progress the team would be seriously undermined.