Celtic journalist Craig Swan has recently made a claim about the club’s potential incomings in the January transfer window.
Swan appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One topic of discussion was transfers and whether Celtic would look to replace Jeremie Frimpong this month. Swan made it clear that he is expecting Neil Lennon’s men to get one player in before the deadline day on Monday.
Celtic sold Jeremie Frimpong to Bayer Leverkusen and they’ve received a fee of £9.9 million from his sale. They’ve reportedly agreed to sign Ben Davies on a pre-contract basis and it has been stated that they are in advanced talks to sign Liam Shaw on a pre-contract in the summer transfer window.
Do Celtic need a Frimpong replacement?
Yes
No
Swan made it clear that a potential replacement for Frimpong could come in on a loan deal as Celtic may not spend a considerable fee on a permanent signing.
He said: “I would expect Celtic will get one in before Monday night. Neil Lennon’s been quite open about the fact that he’s hoping to get a couple of deals done. In terms of long-term strategy, there’s been a lot of money lost this year through the [pandemic] situation. You can argue there’s been money wasted – and a couple of the guys that have maybe come in and not justified their fees at this stage.
“I would be thinking it would be more likely to be along the lines of [a] short-term loan to the end of the season maybe, just for right-back, rather than going out and reinvesting £5-6 million on anybody. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
TIF Thoughts on Celtic transfers…
Celtic spent £11.43 million on signing players in the summer transfer window and with the fees that they’ve got from Frimpong’s sale, they seem to be closer to balancing their books for the 2020/21 campaign (as per Transfermarkt).
The club’s revenue had fallen by 15% because of the pandemic. Since they’re close to balancing their books despite the impact of the pandemic, that may point towards the fact that they may not spend heavily on another right-back. If that’s the case, they should at least sign someone on loan as apart from Anthony Ralston, they don’t have any other out-and-out option for the senior team at right-back.