Celtic's 2025/26 Summer transfer window: Stage: Panic

T

They are a bunch of roasters

 

See even if it were true, which it isn’t, is it worth saving a million quid if we can get a player the manager likes for £7million on the 31st of August as opposed to £8million a few months earlier?

The value of the player to the team for that season diminishes significantly without a pre season and training camp with his new team mates and manager, getting up to full fitness, learning our press and attacking patterns etc.

Added to that, we’ve got season defining European qualifiers in the matter of weeks and I simply can’t understand why it’s beneficial to do this even if the theory were plausible. Which it isn’t.

 

With the money we have it makes no sense at all to be haggling over a mil here or a half mil there if we think the player adds the required quality.

This Balikwisha guy - we seem to banking on Antwerp folding as hes out of contract next year in order to save an extra mil.

 

I don't think he's been a top priority target this window, we'll have other players we're after the press just don't have a scooby about, but they're aware of him being on our list of targets from last year so they just keep printing out more stories linking us without ever actually adding anything new.

 

Did you bother to listen to what was said

 

I would agree but our favourite accountant would more than likely consider it a risk.

 

Callum McGregor back to left back please.

Hope everyone is strapped in for Rodgers playing fringe players and everyone out of position to make his point this season

 

Yeah something about his super cool doc martins. Tadge piece

 

Listen to what was said about transfer business

 

Im still optimistic that by the end of the window we will have strengthened and brought another 4 or so players for the guts of 15M / 16M

But we are leaving ourselves really thin out wide as it stands now. And looks pretty odds on our front three will be Idah, Maeda and Yang come season opener. Even if we get another wide player in the next week or so hes prob not going straight into the team.

Given we have Jota out, Kuhn sold, Palma moved, Tillio moved you would think that they feel confident in getting wide replacements in imminently. I think I would be more worried if we had kept Tillio or Palma hanging around as a sign that they needed them as cover.

Thats how Im choosing to read it for now anyway.

 

It’s not been bad window so far.
Kt is good signing
Nygren looking good.
Japan left back look good
If striker is good also
That four good players signed for under 3 million.

 

Can we get Nypan on a 2 year loan from City after hes just completed his move there?

 

Value means nothing to me at this stage. Saving money was an appealing prospect when the logical next step is spending it. But they refuse to, somehow the more money we have the tighter we became.

I'd bet my life that not a single player we pull in at the last minute couldn't have been brought in during preseason. We're told constantly how crucial preseason is for players but any acceptable business only happens at the last minute. Clearly the club do not consider the managers opinion or fan momentum in anything they do.

We make it so much harder than it needs to be and they have the arrogance to swan about like they are the best in the business.

I truly understand how folk end up radicalised.

 

But we have sold key players since January mate for considerably more than £3m.

There’s definitely still time but there’s anxiety because this looks like a bit of a punt window because the manager is looking at the exit door. It might come good but I think a marquee DM signing and an exciting winger or striker would be great to see.

 

we got to trust our scouts who found these players.
Eagles for 11 million look average
Nygren for 1.7 million look better player so far.

that amount spent doesn’t mean we signing good player.
Let see what window brings.
Brendan might want a certain player and he doesn’t want come here yet. Leave his option open to end transfer window.

 

I've said this the last few windows and it never seems to gain any traction, but I'll try and push the idea again: the simplest explanation for our transfer activity is lack of bandwidth and risk aversion (I think most people on here already agree with the second). It explains nearly everything without needing to postulate unproven motives like waiting to see how the qualifiers go, waiting to see if Rodgers will stay or wanting to sit on a pile of cash.

Risk aversion is easy to show IMO: we have been far more willing to spend big money on a player if that player already had a successful loan period here. I think most people on here already thought this without needing me to sell the idea. Sensible people might disagree on whether this is a good thing or not.

The part I want to argue for is the lack of bandwidth. We haven't got an extensive, professional recruitment structure, it's just a small group of guys on the board and however talented they might (well) be, they are only human and can only deal with so much at a time. Take this summer, something is always happening. We got Nygren in. We sold Kühn. We got in a few projects, now we're selling a few fringe players. We're steadily getting on with things, but it never goes quickly, we only have the capacity to keep 2 or 3 balls in the air at a time. It's like that every window.

This even explains the windows that are outliers. Our best window in recent years was Ange's first January. The nature of the Japanese season and Ange's inside knowledge meant we could come out flying. They even had capacity left over to do the O'Riley deal. Our worst window (possibly since Fergus McCann bought us IMO) was summer 2023. Ange leaving caught everyone off guard and meant we had to start from scratch and we simply didn't have the bandwidth to get caught up. Although I moaned about it at the time, January was much better in hindsight. That's expected, as by that time we were back up to speed.

Finally, why do we still not have this professional recruitment structure we've been crying out for for years? IMO, it's about control.

 

Indeed, but I don’t think you can summarise it as a good window so far and ignore what we’ve let go from the squad. Three starters since January including two of our main goal threats.

If we’re bringing in £30m and replacing with £3m then that’s fine if they come good, but if they don’t then there really is no excuse because no matter the mental gymnastics we pull, on average better footballs cost more money.

But my main point would be we clearly have a lot of cash that come in, so if we’re spending low amounts on players I would at least expect that business to be done quickly.

 

Brendan Rodgers says Celtic still have work to do in the transfer market as his side landed in Italy for the inaugural Como Cup.


The friendly competition sees Celtic face Ajax in one semi-final, with Como 1907 and Al-Ahli in the other. The Celtic manager says there is no such thing as an exhibition match for the Glasgow club.

“Pre-season is designed to develop your football fitness, but I say it to the players, when you’re a big club like Celtic, there’s never a friendly; they are always tests for you.”

“We didn’t dominate last year; we won two out of three trophies,” said Rodgers. “So we believe we can be even better this season on the domestic front.”

Since returning from their summer break, Celtic have recorded four wins and one loss, including an emphatic 4-0 victory over Newcastle at home.

The Bhoys manager was asked if the time has allowed him to tinker tactically, or has been used to double down on what brought success home last season.

“A little of both. Last season we scored the most goals in over 50 years,” he said. “We create lots of opportunities but you can always improve. It’s about reinforcing a lot of the good work that we already do, whilst tweaking elements in order to attack even more, because that is the soul of Celtic, it’s attacking football.”


Although they might not meet Como should only one of the two sides win their respective games, Rodgers was effusive in his praise of Nicolas Kuhn, who signed for Como for a reported initial £16.5m.

“Nicolas will be a really exciting talent,” said Rodgers. “When we saw him playing for Rapid Vienna, straight away his speed, his ability with the ball and his ability to score goals really stood out. When we took him to Celtic, all those qualities shone through. He was also playing in a very, very good team at Celtic.

“For a player to shine, you want him to be in a good team and with Callum (McGregor) and his teammates, they really helped improve him as a player. When you play for such a big club like Celtic, you become a winner.”

The sentiment was echoed by captain Callum McGregor, who said he and his teammates were looking forward to seeing former teammates Kuhn and Alex Valle, who left Celtic in January on a loan that became permanent this summer.

“You cross paths so many times with new players and you get to know them on a personal level as well. You spend so many days at the training ground, hotels, playing with each other and building connections,” he said.

“It’s always nice when you see players move on and do really well for themselves. So it’ll be nice to see those guys again.”

Rodgers was also complimentary of Como’s manager Cesc Fabregas, who earned promotion with Como before finishing tenth in the club’s first season in Serie A for 21 years.

“For Como, it has been a great story for the club over these last number of years,” said Rodgers. “Cesc, as a young manager, is coming in and looking to play a very clear style of football and he’s taken in some fantastic players.”

“He’s at the beginning of his journey, and I’m sure if he has that passion and that desire that he had as a player then he can have a very good career.”

“I’m very impressed with the journey that the team is on. I’m just really looking forward to being here and hopefully playing against them.”

When asked if he had given any thought to life after playing, Callum McGregor said it had been on his mind of late.

“I think you were listening to our car journey here!” He joked. “We were just having a chat on the way from the airport about later down the line, whether that be coaching or managing and just trying to prepare yourself for the next steps.”

“I love football and I want to be part of football for the rest of my life,” said McGregor, 32. “So eventually, when the time comes to hang up my boots, then for sure I’ll be trying to use as much information as I can to take the next step.”

Despite losing Kuhn, the club have made six signings this summer, including the return of Kieran Tierney and new face Benjamin Nygren from Danish outfit FC Nordsjaelland, but Rodgers says the club have business left to complete.

“We still have some work to do,” he said. “I think the players that we have in the building have been very, very good in this pre-season so far. But like I say, we still have work to do in the market.”

“I think it’s very clear where our gaps are - in our front line, where we need support,” Rodgers said. “I’m very confident that we’ll be able to do that before the market finishes.”


When McGregor was asked why he thought Italy had proven to be such a hotbed for Scottish players to flourish, the midfielder pointed to the adaptability of his teammates.

“When they come, they settle into the lifestyle, they learn a new language,” he said. “So it shines a really positive light on Scottish football and its footballers.”

However, McGregor, having played just one season away from Celtic on loan with Notts County, has indicated no desire to leave Glasgow before finishing his career.

When asked what his approach was to develop tactically without globetrotting as his teammates had done, he was interrupted by Rodgers.

“By changing managers,” joked the Celtic boss, before McGregor added, “Well that is it. It’s working with top-level managers who have been on that journey and managed in the Premier League and top clubs.”

“To have longevity at such a big club like Celtic, you have to keep reinventing yourself and keep pushing and driving yourself for more, because people are always asking for more from you.”

 

I don't think Rodgers has told the club he's definitely going to leave next summer. But I also don't think that he's told them he's interested in staying either.

This has felt a much quieter window for me and I do buy into the theory that the club doesn't want to splash out on big players Rodgers wants if he's heading off next year. As usual it would be Celtic shooting themselves in the foot, but can see the validity in the argument.

Board maybe looking for commitment on big-money long-term signings and they might not feel they're getting it from Rodgers. But at the same time, his contract is for 3 years and the club should be doing all it can to back him during that entire period.