Adam Matthews - Very young yet very composed and comfortable on the ball. Huge potential. Great value, great signing.
Kelvin Wilson - Looked solid before injury apart from old firm game, jury is still out
Victor Wanyama - Looks an absolute steal at 1 million pounds. Rightly getting plaudits for recent performances. Such a solid player, and so young too! Still early days, but looking to be a great signing.
Mo Bangura - Not looking the part so far, but has yet to have an extended run in the side. Jury is still out.
Badr El Kaddouri - Doesn't count as he isn't a permanent signing. Not a great player, but a decent stand in for Izzy for the time being
Fraser Forster - Has his critics but his record speaks for itself. A solid GK
Joe Ledley - Another inspired signing. Got him on a free, he's still quite young, and he just has a touch of class and composure that's so refreshing to see.
Charlie Mulgrew - "The shirt doesnt shrink to fit inferior players", but sometimes inferior players grow to fit the jersey, and big charlie is certainly an example of that. He's become an important part of the squad. Another great signing.
Cha Du Ri - A dud.
Daryl Murphy - Dud.
Efrain Juarez - Seemed to be a promising signing, but we'll never know why it turned out the way it did. I wouldn't call it a bad signing and he seemed to have a great pedigree. Maybe we haven't seen the last of him.
Gary Hooper - Inspired signing. Need more be said?
Emilio Izaguirre - Again, absolutely brilliant signing. Very classy player and brilliant value for money. NL's best signing?
Beram Kayal - Yet another great signing. World class player? It's kind of looking that way.
Kris Commons - Great start to his Celtic career, pity how it seems to be turning out for him. He was a great signing. Had we won the league, he would have taken a lot of the plaudits.
Anthony Stokes - Born to score goals. We knew what we were getting with Tony and as his record shows, he'l always deliver.
Daniel Majstorović - Probably NL's most inconsistent signing. When on form he's a formidable player. He adds experience to the side. Perhaps a couple years younger and I would say he's a great signing.
Freddie Ljungberg - We can only speculate as to what effect this wise old head had in the dressing room. If we're judging the signing purely on what happened on the pitch, then a waste of money, but we should reserver judgement as we don't know the full story.
In all, I would argue that Lenny's record is stunning. Out of these 17 players, I think it's safe to say that only 3, Murphy, Ljungberg and Cha, are roundly agreed to be duds.
From the rest, there is an abundance of youth and talent, and a recurring theme of getting gems really cheap. Compared to WGS and MON, does Neil Lennon have a better record in the transfer market? Bear in mind that while MON had a great side, he inherited great talent and at the same time had little budget restrictions. When you think about it, I guess he never really had the chance to show if he could wheel n deal like Lenny has.
You look at WGS and you gotta say that his record was pretty poor in comparison to Lenny's, and WGS has many transfer windows to get it right. Sure, he signed Naka and Boruc, but you see that Lenny has already made three signings of that value and class - Hoops, Emilio, Beram. And Lenny has only been around for a fraction of the time that WGS had.
Plaudits too go to Lenny's backroom staff. The trend of low cost, good quality signings seems to be continuing this season with the emergence of Wanyama and Matthews. Not to mention that Lenny is also adding value to the squad by letting young Forrest and co in.
I think I should stop typing now!
Discuss Neil Lennon's Transfer Record in the Celtic Chat area at TalkCeltic.net.
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Rude Bhoy
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Bangura = the black Sebo
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The Golden God I am untethered and my rage knows no bounds Gold Member
I wouldn't go as far as saying Cha is a dud. But I agree with the rest.
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CelticMorocco
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I heard that Juarez had a bad attitude and a drinking problem which is why he and Neil constantly had arguments and he did not play much... just a rumour though
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ILoveTheCeltic
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They've been excellent. Considering they probably only cost about £12million combined. Kayal, Ledley, Matthews, Wanyama, Izaguirre, Juarez and Hooper must be worth £30million+ easy not to mention McGeouch, Stokes, Mulgrew, Commons, K.Wilson who are less valuable but great value for money.
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kayal , ledley matthews , stokes , hooper , wanyama , izzaguirre. total cost 8 mill approx
kayal , ledley matthews , stokes , hooper , wanyama , izzaguire. total worth 30 mill approx
thats a great influx of talent , plus bringing back mulgrew, blooding forrest . mowbray days are a distant nightmare now. -
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AndyTheBhoy
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Didn't they cost a lot less than that? Ledley and Matthews on frees, Izzy and Kayal combined around 1m? Wanyama 1m, Hooper 2,8ish? A Juarez about 3.5? That's a combined total of just over £8million, Unbelievable bargins most of them. -
Ffs give the bhoy a chance ! But thats an awlful kick in the balls comparing him to sebo, could you not have compared him to a non leauge striker:icon_mrgreen:
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ILoveTheCeltic
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Aye didnt just mean those players though I meant all his signings. He's spent £12million or something but the players he's bought are probably worth 3 times+ that now.
Izaguirre £8million
Kayal £8million
Hooper £7million
Ledley £6million
Wanyama £4million
Matthews £4million
Juarez £2million
Stokes £2million
Think thats what theyd all be worth about now. Plus McGeouch will be worth a good few £million in a couple of years too. -
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It is strange now that Sebo is a goal machine in Slovakia :97: -
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These threads are excellent when your winning.i wonder how many more were classed as duds a month ago :icon_mrgreen:
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People talk of commanding huge transfer fees for these players, but if you ask me, we've spent years becoming as financially healthy as we are now. What was the point in all that frugality if we just go and sell these players? I thought the idea was that we stand on our own financially, then unless players express a desire to leave, we don't let the EPL top clubs steal our talent. Would I rather take in 8 million from izzy and spend that in the transfer market? * no, for the first time in years we have a world class left back. I'd sooner have him stay for the duration of his contract and then leave on a free rather than see him go for 8 million now. Its a rare thing to see players of that pedigree at celtic park, and if we sell theres no guarantee that the replacement will be able to fill his boots
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Moros
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We're kinda following the Ajax model in the sense that we're bringing in a lot of youngsters with good potential, getting good use out of them and then selling them on for a nice transfer fee when the time is right.
The difference is that Ajax mainly get their youngsters through their academy while we get a couple from our youth system, but we are mainly buying youngsters from around the world for low fees.
The problem with having a lot of youngsters no matter how good they could be, they can be inconsistent and we have seen that from many of our lads. We have obviously tried to balance it out by bringing in some experience with the likes of Majstorovic, Ljungberg, Cha etc etc. We also have players like Brown and Wilson who have been here for a few years already.
I know I have went a bit off topic here as the threads about Lennon's transfer record (which is very good), but the point above came to mind when looking through that list of players. -
The thing is, regardless of what the form of the team is in any given time, all these players have shown that they can play. When the team goes through a bad patch, it doesn't automatically mean Lennon has signed a bunch of duds, it means we have good yet inconsistent players, which isn't surprising when you consider both the lack of experience in the squad and in the dug out. It's something that comes with time, and we're already seeing the squad learn and grow. We're grinding out victories, something that we sorely lacked previously.
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Wouldn't call Cha a dud tbh. We needed a cheap back up for M.Wilson and we got it, has had some poor games but overall he's been a decent signing.
The only two I'd consider duds are Murphy and Juarez. Think everyone and their dog knew Murphy wouldn't cut it and it just hasn't worked out with Juarez. Although we'll probably recoup most of our money for Juarez as he's still only 23, can play CM and RB and has a decent reputation at international level. -
The Prof Administrator Administrator
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Lenny has signed some pretty decent players but they need to show they've got what it takes to win the League.
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Thought CHA done well today and as for describing Bangora as the new sebo !behave yourself.
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We are on a low budget and it would be defying the laws of the universe not to sign a good few that are not great on that budget. Lenny has signed a good few I dont think are great but he has also signed some peaches. The important thing is you sign enough good ones to make a good squad and Lenny has done that. You cant ask for more than that. I dont think Lenny's ability to sign enough good ones to bad ones has been an issue. He early showed that he can find good players. The question mark has always been forming them into a team/tactics. Weirdly history is repeating itself. Like last season he didnt find the right blend until Xmas approach and he has followed a similar pattern this season. Looking good now.
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Good signings: Matthews, Wanyama, Forster, Ledley, Mulgrew, Hooper, Izzy, Kayal, Stokes.
The rest still have a lot to prove or aren't good enough, overall he's done well in the market. -
for the people mentioning Mcgeouch here and there
do you not mean james forrest???
lenny raved about that boy when he was in charge of reserves and brought him into the first team so to me i would class that as mcgeady type signing and look what we got for him and we're due more if he leaves spartak for the roumered £27 million to zenitLast edited by a moderator: Dec 4, 2011
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