Celtic’s current transfer model fit for purpose? Part 7 – The Future

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The Celtic Star

·14 luglio 2025

Celtic’s current transfer model fit for purpose? Part 7 – The Future

Over the past week I have been writing articles on The Celtic Star focusing on transfer activity not just involving the current situation at Celtic but also transfers involving some of our more recent former players who are once again on the move after leaving Glasgow in the past year or so…

Celtic’s new signing Benjamin Nygren at Celtic Park. Photo Celtic FC

Celtic has mastered the buy low, sell high strategy

Today I am wrapping the series up by looking at what our future looks like in terms of transfer strategy and whether i think as a club we are willing to show that ambition needed to progress Celtic on to the next level.

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Celtic have been lauded by many (and envied by a certain resurrected club) over the past decade or so due to our buy low, sell high strategy in the transfer market and there is no doubt it’s been successful.

We have got to the point now where we will only think about parting with our top talent if clubs are willing to pay above £15m for them. At times it’s obvious the players are worth more but there is no doubt that being stuck in the confines of Scottish football means that clubs will never pay what they would for a player in one of the top European leagues.

Celtic players pose for a photo on pitch prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Personally I think we should be pointing towards the fact that these players are performing in the top level.of European football in the Champions League but so far even proving yourself at that level isn’t leading to players breaking through that £25m top valuation ceiling.

Celtic is becoming a stepping stone club for players

We are also now selling ourselves to potential signings by stating we are stepping stone club. It’s well known that we actually promote this to new recruits. Come here for a while, improve and we won’t stand in your way when a team from the big leagues comes calling.

While it’s definitely a carrot to entice players to sign up, you also leave yourself open to players wanting to depart much sooner than we would like. I have absolutely no problem with this strategy but the departure of Nicholas Kuhn after only a season and a half makes me think we should be letting them know that we expect at least two soild seasons from them before any thoughts of us letting them leave easily with our best wishes.

24th May 2025; Hampden Park, Scottish Cup Football Final, Aberdeen versus Celtic; RossDoohan of Aberdeen chats to Shaun Maloney ActionPlus Vagelis Georgariou

Shaun Maloney’s arrival could be helpful

As I mentioned in previous articles we should change how we utilise loan deals to try and make them more profitable to the club. Stop inserting low priced ‘option to buy’ clauses and wait and see how they perform at their new club. If things go great then either bring them back into the fold or let it be known you are open to offers for them.

This way, like with Alexandro Bernabei and Mikey Johnston their fees will actually increase. I have a lot of hope that Shaun Maloney will be all over this. I think signing him up for this role was an excellent idea and can’t wait to see how many things, including our loan structure, changes under him.

It’s the incomings that I have more a problem with

Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson is sen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Hibernian FC at Celtic Park on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

That’s enough about outgoings, it’s the incomings that I have more a problem with. We have always had a reputation as being tightfisted when it comes to parting with money and nothing has changed. This mindset hasn’t changed even with the club being constantly in profit and posting some of the best financial accounts in football. Firstly let me state I’m glad that we have sensible people running the club who would never let us die the way our city rivals did but there is a difference between being sensible and being miserly. We are most definitely the latter.

The Low Risk strategy

The low risk strategy of bringing players in on the cheap has not changed at all in recent years. I thought bringing in a top manager like Brendan Rodgers almost a decade ago would have changed it. It didn’t. We then had Neil Lennon and Ange Postecoglou where again we stuck by the same principles.

Callum McGregor and Brendan Rodgers celebrate the league win. Celtic v St Mirren, Scottish Premiership, 17 May 2025 Photo Robert Perry/Shutterstock

When Rodgers returned two years ago I thought that he would have only been willing to come back with a guarantee that the club would be willing to match his ambition but I was clearly wrong. I especially thought we would be willing to step our transfer strategy up a gear due to the fact we knew if we won the league over the next couple of years that we would be guaranteed Champions League football and all the riches that comes with it. Unfortunately this didn’t happen.

Now that we are back to having to qualify yet again I fear the worst

If the club hasn’t been willing to move to the next level in terms of ambition under a top manager like Brendan Rodgers with Champions League football almost guaranteed for a few years then we may give up hope that we will ever reach that level and that’s me being brutally honest.

Peter Lawwell, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Nicholson. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

We have to navigate our way through a qualifier this year and next (if we win the league of course). After that the coefficient drops again and we will have to battle our way through two qualifiers. Do you think the club will be willing to shell out significant transfer fees without the promise of guaranteed Champions League money?

Not a chance. If they had of wanted to take that step up in terms of levels of investment in the playing squad it would have been done over the last few years. Now they will be getting jittery again at the thoughts of less European income.

The fact that this club only ever shells out money on new signings that they have covered by player outgoings shows our lack of ambition. Already this summer we have claimed around £20m in transfer fees. We have spent less that £2m of that. Do we even expect that surplus £18m to be fully invested in the squad? I certainly don’t, certainly not until they know whether we qualify for the Champions League anyway.

Incase anyone thinks I’m the unrealistic type you see all over social media who thinks we should be signing players from the top leagues, I’m not. Far from it in fact. The idea that we can bring in established players from the English Premier League is laughable, even good Championship players are probably outside our reach in terms of transfer fees and wages.

Moussa Dembele of Celtic celebrates after scoring his team’s third goal during the UEFA Champions League group C match between Celtic FC and Manchester City FC at Celtic Park on September 28, 2016. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The only option when looking down south is finding players early who are on an upward trajectory, think Moussa Dembele and Matt O’Riley. I liked the recent signing of Callum Osmand as these are exactly the types of players we should be snapping up before they become unattainable.

Matt O’Riley of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with teammates during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic FC at Ibrox on April 07, 2024. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

That doesn’t mean there aren’t good established players in good European leagues that we should certainly be able to bring in. Look at Nicolas Kuhn who we plucked from Austria. Arne Engles from Germany. Jota from Portugal (the first time). All great signings at a reasonable price with two already having left for significant fees (although Jota later returned of course). This is good business. Is it too much to ask that we maybe look for players in that £8-12m bracket who will come in and improve the team instantly and who you will still get a significant fee for in a couple of years?

It feels like Celtic just aren’t ready to take that risk of investing in players in that slightly higher bracket. Is it fear that they fail to impress and their value decreases? Or is it simply that the money men feel we won’t ever sell players over that £25m ceiling, so spending more on a player lessens the profit when we do eventually sell them on? It wouldn’t surprise me.

Paul Tisdale, manager of Exeter City prior to the Emirates FA Cup Second Round Replay between Exeter City and Forest Green at St James Park on December 12, 2017. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Surely you have to trust the scouts here, otherwise why are we still employing them? We have brought in head of football operations Paul Tisdale, who certainly talks the talk, even proclaiming himself a ‘football doctor’. If he’s as good as he likes to think he is with his ‘unique’ algorithms, and obviously the club thinks he is or wouldn’t have employed him, then put your trust in him to progress us to the next level. He also now has Shaun Maloney to work with who, as I already mentioned, should be a great signing. Surely these two can identify young talent with serious potential with their knowledge and contacts throughout the English leagues and Europe?

This summer we have brought in Hayato Inamura from Japan and are also rumoured to be closing in on Shin Yamada as well. I’m glad we are still perusing the Asian market for signings. It has been market we have exploited well in the past and there are certainly bargains to be had.

Callum Osmand signs for Celtic. Photo Celtic FC

Personally I think the perfect mix in terms of our recruitment going forward would include firstly a slightly higher level of player brought in from Europe. Just two or so a year, or more if some of our star players depart. Players who are first team ready. No squad fillers. Secondly I would continue to bring in players from the Asian market. This is relatively risk free as they won’t cost much and our record in this field is more successes than failures. Thirdly I would be hoping to use the knowledge and contacts of Tisdale and Maloney to bring in young talent from the UK and Ireland who will be ready to make the step up and challenge for first team squad places in the first year or two.

With Tisdale and Maloney in situ and Brendan Rodgers leading the first team it actually seems like we have the perfect mix of characters capable of bringing this club to the next level. It will all come down however to whether they are given the money to make it a success. We will all be watching eagerly over the next year or so to see how this progresses. I’m more hopeful than confident. History tells us that the men with their hands on the tiller at our club do not part with money easily. If they don’t loosen those purse strings ever so slightly then things will never change.

Celtic Park on Trophy Day. Photo The Celtic Star

Do their ambitions match those of the Celtic support? It’s time for them to prove to us all that it does.

Conall McGinty

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