Celtic supporters are waiting for more transfer news, and Roger Hannah believes there is plenty of work left for the club to do before deadline day.
That might sound like plenty of time, but Celtic’s transfer business has rarely moved at the pace supporters would like. With the European qualifier looming, every passing day brings more scrutiny.
There has at least been some movement. Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh both made their competitive debuts in the opening-day win over Dundee, giving supporters a first look at two of the club’s summer arrivals.
Even so, anyone watching on Flag Day could see this squad still needs strengthening.
Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston both started against Dundee, but neither looks certain to still be at Celtic Park by the time the first leg against LASK comes around.
Martin O’Neill has already spoken about the need to bring in fresh faces, but supporters are looking for action rather than another round of calls for patience.
Scottish Sun Head of Sport Roger Hannah shares that view. Speaking on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, he admitted he expected Celtic to be further down the road with their summer business.
“I thought they’d have more business done, to be honest.
“No one’s going to be surprised when Alistair Johnston and Arne Engels go.
“I would imagine they would [both go], so the key is replacing them.
“They should’ve had a left-back in; I thought Saracchi would come back, to be perfectly honest. It doesn’t look as if that’s going to happen.
“There is work needing to be done; there’s no question about that. I would still expect there’s a chance that Hatate could go as well; he’s on the bench, so he’ll need replaced as well.
“There’s a transfer window open, so Celtic will sign a winger. They always do!”
He then laid his prediction out for Celtic’s incoming transfer activity.
“So there’s a lot of business still to be done. I would expect Celtic to sign at least four more.”
Hannah did not suggest he was working from inside information, and his comments should be viewed as opinion rather than a prediction based on knowledge of deals already in progress.
Even so, his assessment will strike a chord with plenty of supporters.
If Johnston and Engels do move on, Celtic will have two major holes to fill in a squad that already looks short in key areas. Hannah also raised the possibility of Hatate leaving before the window closes, which would only increase the workload.
The challenge facing the club is obvious. The LASK tie is approaching quickly, and Celtic cannot afford to head into another crucial European qualifier relying on a squad that still looks unfinished.
Duran and Hogh are through the door, but they cannot be the end of the business. If Celtic are serious about giving themselves the strongest chance of reaching the Champions League proper, the next few weeks need to be far busier than the last.
It’s really poor business sense how this board are doing things regarding buying players” its only 2 weeks away for champions league games. no back up midfield powerful player with pace No full back to cover left or right sides no decent winger with skill and pace goal keeper present one on not good enough and the club has spent not one pound on any player yet sold 4 players for around £18 million bought 2 for around £14 million. Bank balance after st sales around £90 million plus what going on at celtic.
Spent £17m, regardless of the thirst to blow £80m and end up like the Rangers, you can’t say we’ve not spent £1! The £18m we brought in is our money as well, money generated from the board buying players and selling them. If we sell Engels and AJ for £40m and spent that £40m, I’m not going to greet saying we only spent the money we brought in!!! Thats how business works!!
The business wisdom is “speculate to accumulate”. In other words, invest for success. This has not happened at Celtic for a number of years now and we can all see the squad decimation that has resulted. £40m was lost in Champions League revenue last year as a result of poor recruitment, and it is absolutely predicatble that the same amount will be lost again this year, for the same reason. LASK is a far more dangerous team than Kairat Almaty and we are nowhere near strong enough in quality to be confident of overcoming them.
How is it possible to explain this insanity when the chief shareholder is a multi-billionaire businessman with a track record of speculating to accumulate? For me, Dermot Desmond knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s punishing the fans for daring to tell his precious son where to go last year, for daring to force Peter Lawwell out the door and, most of all, for daring to demnad the resignation of the old playboy himself. That’s what’s really going on. And by the way, I have lost all respect for Desmond’s apologist, Martin O’Neill. He can see exactly what is happening and should really call it out by walking away. Instead, he keeps promising players when he has no clue what his bosses are doing, much less a voice.