Ok, let’s say the bid for Moussa Dembele is real and on the table. Of course, there’s nothing to substantiate these reports as we countdown to the window closing.

There seems to be some jubilation and a sense of satisfaction that a club would bid so much for one of our players. Fans bragging about the fact that their striker is highly sought after and worth a ton of cash.

Is it just me who doesn’t understand this mentality?

We have reached the zenith of ridiculousness when fans want to point score over how much they get for their star players. As a guy in my late twenties, I try desperately not to use the term “back in my day” but back in my day there would have been an uproar if Celtic even thought about selling their star striker for however much.

We know the talent we have in Dembele, he’s a player who could reach the very top of the game. When he continues to impress he will always have suitors and I’m not naive enough to think if the right deal and club come along that the player will want to go, which is a whole different conversation.

What I do know, at this moment, he’s a Celtic player and we should be striving to keep in no matter what bid comes in.

Selling him would cut Rodgers off at the knees and throw his future plans into some doubt.

But then you argue; well he’ll have £34 – £40million to build a squad.

If anyone thinks if Celtic got that much for a player that they would go out tomorrow and start signing players for £6-10million and with a wage packet that would make our top earner right now feel inadequate then they’re sadly mistaken.

The club are working within a model that might see the boat pushed out now and again but they would not break that model to bring in a host of big money players (by Scottish football standards) to jeopardise that once the transfer cash has run out.

There’s no guarantee when you spend money that you get quality and in my opinion, it would be harder to find a player like Dembele with a copious amount of cash than it would to simply tell clubs interested in him to take a hike.

What’s to gain for Celtic fans if we sell him? So you can head down the pub this weekend and say “Ah, I told you Dembele was worth a mint”.  I’d rather opposition fans belittle his transfer fee and try to discredit him than our fans been proven right over the bhoy’s price and potential.

The board would certainly welcome the amount of cash that has been offered but we’re not board members looking at the bottom line, we’re fans and we should want to see the very best play in the hoops for as long as possible. We should have the foresight to see that keeping Dembele will give enhance our chances of Champions League qualification next season and after a bumper £30million this season, he’d make up that transfer fee in no time.

We have the Frenchman under contract and we should sell when the time is right but at the moment it just doesn’t feel right.

Am I the crazy one here?

19 COMMENTS

  1. as much as i agree with you – football is a buisness now a days like it or not. and the fact tht if we get say 35 million for a player that cost 500 grand 6 months ago you would need to bite there hand off to try and compete in the champions league and not get shown up – i think if this was in deilas era we wouldnt see much of the money but under rodgers i think he has a bit more pull over the board and we could see a good bit going back in to the team! just my opinion mate

  2. I’m in my forties and we always have sold our best players for a price. That’s football. From King Kenny to Charlie Bhoy, it’s just the way things are. If we can make a lot of money from this deal then we have to take it. With our management team hopefully the next Dembele is just around the corner.

  3. No your not, keep our quality players as long as we possibly can
    they will still be of the same value or even more,
    further down the line.

  4. Just a point regarding ‘back in the day’ I seem to remember us selling Dalglish, Brian McClair, McAvennie Cadette, DiCanio, Van Hooijdonk, Viduka etc for various different reasons. At the end of the day every player has a price and if we receive 40m then it would be in the club’s interest to sell. What happens if he gets a serious injury?

    Money reinvested in the club and in the team will strengthen us for Europe. We have CL money, money from other player sales and pre season tournaments so we are sitting pretty.

    Brendan has set a precedent which other Scottish clubs like Kilmarnock are following to not sell on the cheap. This can only be good for the game.

    • Missing the point. Its false economy. Its short term thinking. Success is not determined by short term profit margins. You need to build a team to qualify and then make money in the CL. It takes more than money to build a team. It takes time and some luck. If you shatter the building process, by selling your best players, you then require time and luck to build back to the position you were in. If you are in a position were the clubs is in serious debt, then thats a different matter. Celtic are not in that position. They dont need to sell anyone! More to the point, its not logical to make 30, 40, even 60 million from selling your best players, when those players will get you £30million per year from CL. MD has only arrived, he is crucial to that continued CL revenue. Selling him or other CL players immediately puts a higher risk of losing that CL revenue. If you see where I am going, you should have already concluded that any of our crucial CL players would need to be sold for in excess of £60million just to recoup possible losses. If you have a bit more of a long term positive strategy, you will not sell any crucial players, ever. You will build build build …and with that the revenue you get in return will…you guessed it mate…it will increase. Dismantling a team to make short term profit is absolute madness, unless you are an investor who wants to make a quick buck, then bugger off leaving the club in the shit.

  5. I love to fantasise about us having a team that included Forster in goal. Virgil at centre half and Victor in beside Brown in the midfield, and signing Roberts while Dembele is banging them in up top for us, but the sad fact is we are in a league where that remains just that, a fantasy. Even the lure of an annuaa crack at the CL is not enough to retain such players who understandably want to test themselves on a weekly basis in a higher profile and higher wage inducing set up.

    So whilst it is weird that fans may brag about how much we have taken in, perhaps they are subconsciously adjusting to inverted point scoring .

    At the same time many of those , who, for whatever bizzare reason, seem opposed to us playing in any league that may involve us ‘leaving ‘ Scottish football decry us losing such talented players

    Forster, Lustig, Virgil , Sumonivic, Tierney……..Roberts, Victor, Brown, Armstrong, Forrest……..Dembele

    A team we could take anywhere, in any league and have a decent crack at anyone.

    For our childrens sake and their childrens sake, if we are ever to reach such heights we need to play in a bigger set up.

    Until then we will be a feeder club, for clubs with nothing like our heritage, history or support

  6. the money is phenomenal and it will keep us winning in Scotland for 5-10 years, but Scotland is not the limit of our ambitions. Or Rodgers. We want to compete in the CL and that will earn 35 million next season. If we sell our best players and replace them with cheaper but still quality in players in the summer, it makes qualification for the CL more difficult than if we only need to make one or two signings in July. If Rodgers is going to have his team gutted every six months he will not hang around. Why would he? There is no point in being at a club if you are not able to plan a season ahead. But I fear Celtic have little choice in all of this, the money will turn a players head and even if we refuse to sell you might have a very unhappy unsettled player on your hands. The big surprise or me is Big Erik. i thought he was happy and settled. Most of the guys touted to sign for clubs like Leicester need to be sure the money is enough because they will probably never play for a club as big as Celtic again or even get the chance to play in the CL. Leicester City’s finest hour, great as it was, is behind them. it was a freak. There is more chance of them being relegated than ever making the top four again.

  7. Why not sell. Buy a 10 million pound rated striker.. Another 5 million on 4 other players…. 10 million into the bank along with the 35 million we got from champions league money.. Not a bad years business by anyones standards.. Remember when Larsson went and players of that ilk. The club must come first.. I am a Celtic supporter in my 60s.. Players come and go and we should appreciate them when they are here.. But the club must come first.. Take the money and build a better squad.. HAIL HAIL

  8. The money going about would ensure for year and to come we are the dominant force so I don’t think people are bragging about how much our players are worth more around the sense of achievement in how our club is run unlike the donkeys across the city , it’s good to hear our club being spoke about ahead of all English clubs today and people realising their is quality in our team that people want ..I’d be sad to see him go but reality is we don’t need him for the rest of this season so gives the scouts month to secure another good striker for the summer

  9. It’s time to build a squad, not jump at the first flash of cash. For years we’ve been crying out for a team to be proud of and now we’re on the verge of getting one and all we do is shout sell sell selltic.we have money in the bank, we are miles ahead of everyone in Scotland but we must push on in Europe. Keep what we have. HAIL HAIL

  10. Agree with what if he gets an injury or loses form , classic example is Jamie vardy could’ve gone to arsenal for 35 million in the summer after a great season, he’s down to around the 5 million mark now reality has kicked In… arsenal dodged a bullet there and guy just be kicking himself he thought he was bigger than what he was

  11. If we’re offered £35-40m for Dembele we’d be mad not to take it. As for Commons he’s supposedly earning £20k a week so if we let his contract run down till the end of the season he’ll pick up nearly £400k for doing nothing. If he agrees to join Hibs why not rip up his contract and let him negotiate a signing on fee and a decent wage. Him and his missus have both done well for Celtic and that way everyone wins.

  12. no way is there an offer on the table for £30m to £40m. It’s pure speculation. He’ll be a Celtic player tomorrow without a shadow of doubt.

  13. The sad fact is this is what the Scottish league has become . Players are coming to Celtic young .. then developing and moving to England for a profit to Celtic.. dembele could have probably went to a English club but he isn’t going to get a game if he goes to a top club .. he comes to Celtic proved himself in the champions league .. and also proved he can dust himself down and get on with it after missing that penalty against Barca then scoring 2 screamers in the next game against man city then gets his big move … I’d be very surprised if Brendan Rodgers didn’t point out to him the chance he will get to move to a bigger club after playing up here when he was in signing talks .. I read what Henry said and he was right but for a young player nowadays to get a big move he needs to prove himself in the champions league .. dembele was as good as he is now when he was at Fulham but it wasnt until he showed he could do it on the biggest club stage that English clubs became interested in a big money move . I know Tottenham tried to sign him .. but he wouldn’t have got a game there over kane .. if Celtic do decide to sell i really hope Rodgers gets the money to spend because if he doesn’t he will be off sooner rather than later ..and Rodgers was meant to be a bit annoyed because we dragged our heels with this African striker he tried to sign for a million in this window

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