Summer '14 - '15 | Page 20 | Vital Football

Summer '14 - '15

Asking price for VVD is apparently £10m but Deila wants him to stay, star for us in the CL and then move on to a good CL team.

Denayer looks set to head back and Deila is saying it will be a challenge to get him back for next season. So that looks to be done and dusted. We need a replacement.

In other news we are definitely in search of a new striker. Deila has talked about finding a new CL quality striker. He says it may be that we need to go take someone who's been on the bench for a while or on the comeback from injury.

We've also offered a trial to Gavin Whyte, 19 year old attacker (winger/striker) who has just been voted Northern Ireland's young player of the year. He currently plays for the Crusaders in Northern Ireland.
I watched some highlights and he's not bad but nothing special, or at least not yet!
 
The latest player we've been linked to is a young Nigerian left back. 19 year old Kingsley Madu is a former Nigeria U20 player and currently plays for Slovakian side AS Trencin. AS Trencin are the top team in the Slovakian league at the moment (not that that is much to shout about) and don't have any great players of note but they do seem to have a number of young players who it can only be assumed are from where some of the other big European clubs find some of these talented Slovakian players.
They seem to have had a few other talented young players over the years and recently had another Nigerian, Moses Simon recently move on to KAA Gent.
One player at Trencin that Celtic do know of already is Rabiu Ibrahim....remember him? Former Celtic player who came with a lot of potential but never made the breakthrough. He went on loan to Kilmarnock and I think eventually signed for them for nothing or next to nothing but he failed to make much of an impression there either.

Madu looks like a competent LB but the question will be over whether he can really step up to another level. He's quick and seems to read the game well and is very good going forward.

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Motherwell striker Lee Erwin - 21 year old - is the latest player to be linked with a move to us. After the success of home grown players such as Armstrong and GMS, Erwin could be the next player we try.
He's had a successful end to the season, the more he's played the better he has got. He's shown pace, good skill and ball control, link-up play and strength. He could be a useful weapon and something different to what we currently have. He's a bigger striker than most we have at the moment but he's got pace and energy which is something Scepovic hasn't really been giving us!

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Scepovic's agent has confirmed that he may leave after only 1 season, but it depends on what happens after a meeting with Deila. It could just be a loan move but to a club that is going to fit better with what Deila wants from him, or if Deila says he's still not going to get much game time and his agent can sort out a move, he may go! His agent believes he still has a number of admirers in Spain.

Fridjonnson has spoken about his future and says he has no idea what the future is for him. It's only been a year since he signed a 4 year deal but that was under Neil Lennon so it depends what Deila wants and he says he has barely spoken to Deila.
Knowing the sort of manager Deila is, I can't believe that he wouldn't have spoken to the player if he was someone he wanted to hold on to and keep around! I think Fridjonnson is for the off!

Swansea are the latest team linked with VVD. The list is now - Arsenal, Spurs, Sunderland, Southampton, Everton, Newcastle (also linked with Denayer), Sevilla and Hamburg (look like they will be relegated for the first time in the history of the Bundesliga so seems unlikely).

I also read a week or so ago that we are interested in Hamburg's Rafael Van der Vaart....we maybe think he's available for a decent price since Hamburg look like they will be relegated this season. However....he's 32 now! We're not going to want to sign someone that old, it doesn't fit with our signing philosophy!
 
I think VvD will be off for pounds 10 million after CL qualifiers. Then Fridj has been a non-factor and was a longshot anyway. There might be a player in Sceppo, but playing for Celtic is not on-the-job training. We really can't carry people in league play and certainly not in Europe. So we may not be able to keep him around.
 
I think you're right on all 3 welch! The problem with VVD and the CL qualifiers is it depends who's interested, because that could theoretically cup tie him for potential buyers who are in the CL. If he's not going to go to Arsenal or a German team in the CL then he may stay for the CL qualifiers....it depends what his ambitions are and just how much interest there is from the big teams!

I can see why Scepovic scored as many goals as he did in Spain and I can see why we were interested....but I think Deila may now have learned what attributes he has to look for in a striker to play in his team, his system and importantly play in our league!
 
I think Sceppo's problem is he is slight of build and not a physical player. Not a good combination in the SPL or EPL. I think Bitton was similar in the first half of the season and adapted to the physical nature later on. He's not a bruiser, but he learned that the referees won't protect him and now stands his ground. Sceppo hasn't gotten the playing time to do so.
 
If we want a proper physical striker to play up front, an aerial threat who can score with his head as well as hold the ball up and play others in....we should look at Croatian striker Ivan Santini.
I scouted him years ago as he was racking up the goals for 2 or 3 seasons back in Croatia, he then moved to Freiburg in Germany and had a bad time of it, he has since moved to Belgium and is once again back to consistent goalscoring. He may not score 20+ a season but he's consistently been a 12+ goals a season player. Often it depends on the team you play in as well and playing in a good team like ours should help him get plenty of goals.
He's about to turn 26 is probably around 6ft 2.

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Been linked with a player, who to me is a strange one to even be considered! Rudolph Austin, Jamaican international and current Leeds player. The article describes him as a defender and captain of Jamaica but transfermarkt have him down as a DM or CM and don't even note defence as one of his positions......
He's set to leave Leeds for free this summer but as he is currently 29 and will turn 30 this summer....it seems like a very strange move for us!

Personally I think this may be the most unlikely target to be rumoured yet!
 
Looks like we're getting closer to signing Dedryck Boyata from Man City. Could be a loan for the remaining year of his contract or it could just be a permanent move straight away. Either way Deila would like him in and training at the end of June with all the other players going forward to next season!
Deila has said he wants some players in before the qualifiers and they are trying to make those deals happen.
 
Everton to sneak in and beat everyone else with a bid of £10m for VVD.........

Leeds don't just want Stokes......now they want Griffiths.....for £1m.........HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! They're kidding right? We would never let our top scorer go for £1m......
 
We should get through CL qualifiers and sell VvD. He won't be cup tied for the entire competition.

What do you think of Boyata?
 
I don't think there's much doubt Boyata has the ability to be a good CB but his lack of playing time is worrying. He's been back-up for a long time now. He had a loan spell at Bolton and FC Twente but without putting eye-catching performances in for either. He's a solid and dependable CB and that was echoed by Pellegrini.
Pellegrini said he kept him as back-up because he knew that if needed him, he could do the job! He said he trains hard and improves every day and it's just unfortunate that he's up against some really tough competition for a place in the team.

What I would say though, if our 2 main options are Boyata and Jonathan Mensah from FC Evian in France because they are both available to get in early, I'd rather we went with Mensah as he has more experience and has played regularly for his club as well as his country!

We have another situation arising with the LB spot it seems. We've been linked with former Dundee Utd LB, Barry Douglas who is at Lech Poznan in Poland. He has played over 50% of his games so he has an automatic 1 year renewal on his contract, however should Poznan fail to get into the CL (3 way battle at the top of the Polish league) then they may look to sell him for £500k.
Our other main option seems to be Mitchell Dijks from Willem II in Holland. He is apparently available for £1m.
Personally I'd rather we go for Dijks, he's younger but also more versatile as he can play CB as well. He would also help add a little more height to the team.
 
Stokes has continually been talked about as a player we will allow to leave. It seems strange given how much he has played this season, he's been one of the main players this season up until the last couple of months!
Leeds Utd have been linked for a while but now it seems MLS side Colorado Rapids are interested in taking him over the pond! The feeling is Deila would be willing to sell him in order to strengthen other areas of the team.

Meanwhile, our long term target Ahmed Benali is now up for grabs. Brescia have been relegated from Serie B and Benali says he has no intentions of playing in a lower league than that. The former Man City midfielder can play as a defensive midfielder but is also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder. Brescia are broke, so a fee of around £500k should be more than enough to do business. However a couple of Italian teams are also said to be interested while Everton and Roberto Martinez has apparently had the player watched since the turn of the year.
 
Sounds like Stokes is as good as gone. When we signed GMS and Armstrong, that spelled the end so long as Ronny keeps this formation. Personally, I don't think the left-sided midfield got the best out of Stokes. I also don't think Stokes got the best out of Stokes. I think he's off.

We should sign both CBs. Denayer is gone and the £10 million is going to tempt Lawwell. That leaves us with no quality CBs. Ambrose is dire and they youth are, well, youth. Sure, Mulgrew and Lustig can play it, but so can I. We need real CBs.
 
I would agree about the CBs....we'd be as well signing both players but at the moment it's sounding like one or the other! Or at least until we know what's happening with VVD. If VVD didn't go this summer (I know it seems unlikely) and we signed 2 new CBs early in the summer....someone is going to be left unhappy at their lack of playing time.... most likely Ambrose!
 
Ambrose should not play. He is terrible at center back. He is cover for league games and that's about it. We must sign two CBs. At a minimum, we need to rebuild the partnership and have one new player as backup.
 
welch47 - 18/5/2015 20:49

Apparently, Ronny is prepared to stump up £4 million for Ikechi Anya.
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I don't see the point.....it's not as though he's a young player, his biggest strength is his pace and he'll lose that as he gets older....then what's he going to do? I think he'll struggle to be a good player for more than another 2 or 3 years! He'll hit 28/29 and his pace will go......£4m is FAR too much to spend on someone like that.
Besides....for Anya to play, who drops out? Are we going to see less and less of Commons?
GMS, Armstrong, Johansen and maybe Forrest are the forward players this team is going to be built around over the next few years so I can't see Anya replacing them or forcing them out of the team.

Ambrose doesn't fill anyone with confidence but I don't see Deila actively trying to get rid of him. Should a club come in for him with a decent offer, I could see us taking it and replacing him quite happily. It also means that unless someone buys him, we won't actively look to buy a new CB to replace him. If we can get 2 CBs that we want, we'll take them! Otherwise it's 1 in and then replacing anyone else who leaves.
 
We have not choice but to bring in two CBs. Even if we bring in one good one, then we have that player and Ambrose starting with no real cover. That's the downside of loan deals. Denayer was great, but he's a flash in the pan since he isn't coming back.

Anya only makes sense if he can be converted to a striker. Not sure that's a possibility.
 
Anya is too small to lead the line I would suggest.

We don't need 2 CBs until VVD leaves....IF he leaves.

Been linked with another defender, Parma's 26 year old CB (seems to mainly play LB) Zouhair Feddal, Morocco international (with some Spanish nationality in there too somehow). He spent the first half of the season on loan at Palermo and returned to Parma in January where he became a regular starter.
Parma are broke, they have no money! So he'd be available for cheap and it's expected he will leave.
My only problem with him, is that I'm just impressed with his highlights, I don't see anything special or impressive he would bring to the team....it's not even like he's young....

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