New Celtic signing Vakoun Issouf Bayo has confirmed what many of us suspected when a deal was made to bring the player in. It was widely reported that Kolo Toure had a lot to do with the deal to take Bayo from Slovakia to Scotland.
Even though, Celtic’s head of recruitment Lee Congerton should be responsible for finding players, sounding them out and ultimately helping the club bring the target in, it appears he has done very little in this instance to make the Bayo deal happen while Kolo, who is just supposed to be a coach helped pull the strings.
Much has been made of Congerton’s perceived lack of depth when it comes to his scouting pool. Sunderland fans were down on him before he came to Celtic and so far, it looks like they had every right to be annoyed with Lee’s contributions.
Confirming how the deal came about, Bayo told the Celtic FC website Kolo was instrumental.
“I’m feeling good, and I’m happy to be here at Celtic,”
“Kolo called me beforehand and explained that Celtic were interested in me. I said was very interested in working with the club, with the manager and with Kolo.”
With Celtic’s major position of right back yet to be filled, it’s clear the imagination of our scouting system is lacking. This is the third window in which Celtic have really struggled to get their top targets, and with no sign of a Plan B. Is this transfer window going to be the one which ends Lee’s grip on Celtic’s scouting system?
