Journalist Craig Swan has issued some transfer concerns involving Celtic and their ability to sign players in the summer window.
Swan was recently a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast on a panel that also included Chris Sutton. Swan raised some concerns about Celtic’s transfer policy and suggested some reasons why the Hoops might not find it easy to sign players.
The Hoops have recently been linked with a move to sign Joe Hart, while they are also said to be keeping an eye on Rapid Vienna midfielder Dejan Ljubicic.
Despite players being linked with a Parkhead switch, Swan issued some insight into the Hoops’ recruitment.
He said: “I heard Graeme Souness talking on the television the other night about whenever one of the Liverpool front three isn’t there, he worries because they drop down to the standard of [Divock] Origi. And you get that, but how do you convince a player of that standard to come and sign for Liverpool when you’re basically saying you’re not going to play? You are only going to play if one of these other three guys is injured.
Will Celtic struggle to sign players in the summer?
Not at all
Yes, we will
“You’re not going to get a top player and in many respects, Celtic have that issue. How are you going to get a really, really good striker to come when Odsonne Edouard is there? You know you’re not going to play if they play the one up [front]. How do you get a certain level of midfield player to come when we all know Callum McGregor and Scott Brown are going to start every week?”
Swan raises a pretty valid point in this case and draws a direct comparison to Liverpool. He believes that because of this potential issue, Celtic may find it tough to attract players this summer.
TIF Thoughts…
McGregor indeed was a regular in the 2019/20 campaign and he played the highest number of minutes for the Hoops last season. Brown played the second-most number of minutes in all competitions, whereas Edouard was sixth in that list (via Transfermarkt).
It is key to note that Celtic did sign a striker in Patryk Klimala, as well as midfielder Ismaila Soro in the January transfer window. However, both Klimala and Soro failed to get regular first-team football, as McGregor, Brown and Edouard were often preferred during the most recent campaign.
This goes to show that Swan’s concerns may be justified and because of the players already in the team, Celtic may struggle to convince players to join, and could be hurt in the summer transfer window as a result.