With the transfer window now in full swing all Old Firm fans are talking about who could be lining up for their side come the 23rd of July. Most fans are saying both teams need to sign players and let go of a few as well, but should the two Glasgow sides be looking abroad in the hope of finding talent?
Celtic have already signed Kelvin Wilson from Nottingham Forest and Adam Matthews from Cardiff and both are proven players down south so Neil Lennon isn’t taking a massive gamble on these players, especially as they are free transfers. Ally McCoist on the other hand hasn’t signed anyone as yet, but it looks increasingly like the first signing of his Rangers reign is going to be Israel striker Tomer Hemed which, arguably, is a bigger risk as he is not that well known.
However, you could argue that players don’t need to be well known to do well, and that case has been proven time and time again. Henrik Larsson wasn’t well known before signing for Celtic from Feyenoord in 1997 for a mere £650,000. Then there were players like Lubo Moravcik, Stiliyan Petrov, Peter Lovenkrands and Stefan Klos to name but a few. Then back to the present and look at the two sides and see how many players weren’t the most well known before they came to Glasgow. Emilio Izaguirre, Beram Kayal, Gary Hooper, Sasa Papac and Nikica Jelavic.
Look at the squads again and there are a decent number of players who do well consistently that the Old Firm have signed from within the SPL, much to the annoyance of some non-Old Firm fans. Kirk Broadfoot, Steven Whittaker and Steven Naismith for Rangers and across the city Celtic have in their ranks Scott Brown who is now their captain, Anthony Stokes, Mark Wilson and Lukasz Zaluska. That’s just the players that are still in Glasgow, so many players have come and gone like Kevin Thomson, Derek Riordan, Kris Boyd, Ian Murray, Gary Caldwell and the list goes on in terms of those.
So is there players in the SPL who the Old Firm could go for? Rangers are in talks just now with Dundee United winger Craig Conway who is now out of contract at Tannadice but with several Championship sides reportedly interested it could take a good offer from Rangers to lure him to Govan. Rangers are also reported to be interested in another Dundee United forward, this time in the shape of David Goodwillie. Celtic have denied that they are interested. With little being said about Goodwillie, one can only imagine teams are waiting to see the outcome of his court case.
Hearts at the moment seem the team who are looking at the rest of the SPL as a good market having signed Jamie Hammill and Mehdi Taouil from Kilmarnock, Danny Grainger from St Johnstone and John Sutton from Motherwell. Hearts are a team who know they only need to sign players who can challenge the top two whereas Rangers and Celtic need to sign players that can give them a different edge in terms of European football. Ally McCoist has recently returned from a trip to Argentina where he took in as much football as he could handle in an attempt to find the next Claudio Caniggia or anyone who could give them the flair that is needed to do well in Europe. Although Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist could be thinking that they need players to challenge for the SPL.
No matter what their thinking while they enjoy their holidays, one thing they should remember that there are players in their own league who can help win the SPL come May 2012 and be careful not to miss out on the next Steven Naismith or Scott Brown.
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