Summer '17 | Page 6 | Vital Football

Summer '17

Watched another vid of Coetzee earlier.

[youtube=R8OpVL6wrzo&feature=youtu.be]

Great range of long passing with both feet. Superb in fact. Very comfortable on the ball and likes to step out and bring it forward. Impressive awareness too. Absolutely no question about this kids' talent. The vid shows quite a few saving tackles and he looks to be quick too. The only downside I can see is his lack of height. Not sure about his upper body strength as the vid was mostly him pinging accurate long passes with some headers and tackles thrown in. But he certainly looks strong enough. He seems to have a decent spring in his jump which might compensate for his lack of, erm, vertical longness.

So, in short, he's not tall but he is unquestionably talented.

I'd ignore those strikers.

_________________________________________

Edit

His club (not ours) are saying we've signed Coetzee subject to a medical and work permit.

I'll wait and see...
 
Completely agree with your assessment of Coetzee. Like I've said before, I'm surprised that he's not already moved to Europe despite his lack of "vertical longness"!
 
Vertical longness should be a thing!

You should start telling folk that you're vertically long rather than plain old tall, 'wee' od. :emoticon:67

After some reflection plus a guinness plus a dram plus another dram last night, Rivaldo might well be a cheap utilty replacement to, initially, provide good cover at both LB and LCB.

Thoughts?
 
Haha! "wee" in "wee_od" has nothing to do with height or longness in any way! I'm simply the younger od brother....although I'm actually taller than my brother! :emoticon:15

Not just LCB and LB.....RB and RCB too. He can basically play anywhere across the back and given his technical ability could probably fill in at CDM if we ever needed him to as well. However I think it's quite obvious that we have more than enough players ahead of him who can play CDM.
 
It looks increasingly likely that Sviatchenko is going to be for the off and while I still like him, I won't be heartbroken to see him go. I think we've found his level and unfortunately it's not going to help take us any further forward. He's probably good enough to be a good Europa League team defender if you know what I mean? He's not quite at CL level and doesn't look like he has the tools to go to that level, or at least not consistently.

With his departure looking likely, that only leaves us with 2 full first team CBs and only one of them is fit right now. Is the signing of Rivaldo enough? Or do we need to strengthen further? Without seeing Rivaldo in action properly other than the online videos....I'd suggest we need another CL quality CB in! I could make do if Sviatchenko stays as he's good back-up to Boyata and Simunovic but if he leaves then I think we need another.
 
Saw a pic of you on FB so knew that what Shaun Maloney was to 'tall', you were to 'wee' :emoticon:17

Agree about Rivaldo's potential versatility and with him having two great feet it opens up a lot of future possibilities. Domestically he'd breeze it anywhere across our back-line or defensive midfield. The play-making and long passing abilities of Ntchampion and him in the same team are mouthwatering and will have Moussa and Griff licking their lips at that kind of service.
But, and where there isn't a however there's usually a but, he'll need time to settle and time to bed himself into the team, our way playing and the speed of our league. He can't be pitched straight in to our early CL group games and it would asking for trouble to do so.

Our first CL game is in three weeks so we need to have Boyata back and up to speed for that or Erik. Neither will be even close to their peak regardless of availability. And Erik could well be away in any case so unless we bring in a quality CB we'll be back to making do or mend or throwing in players (boyata/erik) too early or an inexperienced one at this level in Rivaldo.

I saw enough of Bitton at CB last night to last me a lifetime! Ajer needed an experienced head beside him last night to help him through the game. Why he was starting at all is another matter.

So CB, with a view to the CL remains a major concern for us. Rushing Moussa back too quickly (like last time) is also a concern.

CB (in addition to RC) and striker should be our priority targets before the window closes.

No more of this make do and mend shite in the CL.


Kouassi is Broony's direct replacement and the prospect of Ntchampion and Kouassi as our two in the middle is something to really look forward to. The sooner Kouassi is back the better.

oh, and agree with your assessment of Erik :emoticon:35

____________________________________________________

Edit

There's been some internet chatter about Jozo from the usual rumour suspects. Started doing the rounds last night with them ranging from Jozo refusing to play last night to him handing in a transfer request to force a move to Burnley ... or Torino ... or somewhere else. Then Jozo posted this on twitter earlier today

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UCL?src=hash">#UCL</a> competition would be boring without us <a href="https://twitter.com/celticfc">@celticfc</a> ???????? <a href="https://t.co/KcfrBdYk88">pic.twitter.com/KcfrBdYk88</a></p>— Jozo Šimunovic (@SimunovicJozo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SimunovicJozo/status/900285422177325056">August 23, 2017</a></blockquote>

Which seemed to put matters to bed. Not that it's stopped some from bumping their gums.

It should be pointed out that Jozo is contracted until May 2020 and with even shite CB's going for £15m plus and the slightly less than shite ones going for £30m in the epl we'll be minted regardless.

BR said the days of players leaving Celtic for the EPL for less than the the going rate are over.

Start the bidding at £15m
 
I didn't think anything of the fact that Jozo didn't play against Astana because I knew that he wouldn't. Plastic pitch = no Jozo! Simple as that. His injury he sustained shortly after joining us means that it's too risky for him to play on that surface, even now!
Burnley sold Michael Keane for £25m! That's a ridiculous amount of money for a 24 year old defender who's career has only taken off since leaving Man Utd. He only ever made 5 first team appearances for Man Utd and he's only played 59 games in the EPL! Until now he's never even played in Europe but Everton were willing to splash £25m on him????? In that case Jozo must be worth at least £15m if not more. No way would we let him go for the £10m they reportedly offered. Plus why would he go to someone like Burnley, no offence to Burnley as I quite like them as a team, but they're not in European competition or anything so it just wouldn't make sense.

The other stories starting to come out are around Dembele, that seems to be picking up again. Marseille have declared they like him and are interested but until they show some cash....he won't go anywhere!
Now though, Monaco have entered the mix! Their star man Kylian Mbappe looks to be on his way to Barcelona to replace Neymar.....and Barcelona have plenty of money to spend on him! So Monaco will easily be able to pay us a ridiculous sum for Dembele. A move to Monaco is actually one that makes sense for Dembele though. Too often he's been linked with clubs where he wouldn't be first choice but at Monaco he would be one of the first choice players, they have a good record of developing young talent and they're playing in Europe.......that's what Dembele would want.

Our big problem will be replacing Dembele when he does go....VERY difficult task!
 
Think Dembele is safe for the time being.

PL saying earlier that the Roberts deal is still progres ing and that the Coetzee deal is done.

Also said he's looking to bring in another two. Which better mean another two over and above Roberts and Coetzee!

The huns at the s*n are playing Jozo bingo, this time it's 'spartak moscow' who are apparently after the "£10m rated" Jozo - their hurting hun pain is palpable. And delicious.
 
Why would Jozo go right now though? He must be loving it here at the moment. The fans generally love him, he's our first choice CB except when playing on plastic and he's about to go into the group stages to play Bayern, PSG and Anderlecht with us.......what's not to like?

I saw PL said they were hopeful of another 2 over the line but like you say, that better be over and above Roberts and Coetzee because there's no way that can be all our dealings done! We NEED more than just those 2! Rito Ziegler is still a free agent, I wonder if this draw and getting into the CL will help him decide what he's going to do? He could still be our CB option.
 
The spartak claims are nonsense. Spartak have a new stadium with a grass pitch since we last played them but every other club in the Russian league still have plastic fucking pitches! The hurting huns at the s*n didn't even do basic fact checking.

Ziegler was bumping his gums back in May or June about how we wanted him. Why has he had no takers since then despite being a free agent? There must be something amiss with him surely. Not to mention he's 31 and has had no pre-season either.

Coetzee will have his medical over the weekend in South Africa. But won't join up with us until after the international break. He's currently with the SA squad.

The Roberts saga continues to be a saga and it's one we can ill-afford with only a week of the window remaining. If we miss out on alternatives because of this delay then maybe more than one on the negotiating and management team will need their effin baws booted. And, if it's just for a 9 month loan then Roberts, PL and BR all need their effin baws toed.

Boyata was pictured back training at Lennoxtown today ... not sure if he was training with the squad or just doing some light stuff with one of the coaching team. Kolo was also there today but just at Brendan's invitation.

Checked around earlier and there's still no new names that have leaked out yet. Will update if any come to light.

 
CB is one of the more difficult positions. Trying to find someone available and of the same sort of quality as we need and obviously the big thing being the experience, particularly in European competitions is just not easy to find!
Ziegler is a strange one.....maybe he's going to just retire or go into coaching. Who knows but if we had an offer for him and he's sitting on it for this long, I think it would be safe to say that deal has gone! We wouldn't wait around for a free agent for this long!

One that doesn't have the European competition experience but would otherwise be a good option is Alexander Milosevic. You might remember going on and on about him because I scouted him before when he was at AIK Solna in Sweden and he looked the business. Strong, athletic, tall, composed on the ball and can pick out a pass. He's now 25, joined Besiktas 2.5 years ago and since then has only made 7 appearances for him. He's now very clearly out of favour having not been involved in any of the opening 2 matches, or even on the bench. I think he had an injury or 2 in his first year but in February 2016 he went on loan to Hannover in the Bundesliga but only made 10 appearances for them. Then he spent all of last season at SV Darmstadt in the Bundesliga making 20 appearances. He's a former Sweden international and I can only assume regrets his move to Besiktas as there were a few clubs interested in him at the time. Besiktas have SEVEN CBs with the newly arrived Pepe from Real Madrid getting a starting spot alongside another old guy Tosic. Then they are preferring a 19 year old and a good young Croatian on the bench with Milosevic, a player who is on loan from RB Leipzig and currently injured and some other defender all missing out.
He only has a year left on his contract and should be able to pick him up for less than £1m. His career stalled when he went to Besiktas, it clearly wasn't right for him but we know that Scandinavian players generally thrive in Scotland and in particular at Celtic.
 
Roll up, roll up, get yer fishal Celtic lucky white heather!

Now the Coetzee deal is in doubt; "Rivaldo has a probem with a bone in his foot which does not fuse properly, and that could see the deal fall apart".

Apparently it showed up during his medical at the FIFA centre in South Africa. :emoticon:76
 
As per above, the deal is now officially aff.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Proposed transfer of Rivaldo Coetzee to Celtic falls through ?? <a href="https://t.co/PXTQ4EE6b2">https://t.co/PXTQ4EE6b2</a> <a href="https://t.co/YqNsyDBrVq">pic.twitter.com/YqNsyDBrVq</a></p>— Ajax Cape Town (@ajaxcapetown) <a href="https://twitter.com/ajaxcapetown/status/901527555899052032">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote>

Think we dodged a bullet here tbh, he also went awol recently

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Coetzee badly wanted a move away from Ajax CT, so much so he went AWOL. Maybe explains why they announced it early. <a href="https://t.co/oEbXjmDlFB">https://t.co/oEbXjmDlFB</a></p>— 8teen88 (@8teen88) <a href="https://twitter.com/8teen88/status/901555406924898304">August 26, 2017</a></blockquote>

Right Lawwell stop effin about, get yer effin finger oot and get some quality effin players in; Centre Back, Right Winger and a Striker!
 
Doesn't sound good! According to the Daily Record it's being put down to a medical issue. A bone in his foot has not fused properly after surgery and it's considered an issue it seems......whether that's just what both clubs want to go with to save face, unsure!

Definitely need another CB in now though! Playing Lustig and Bitton on Saturday wasn't great!

Roberts in is great but I still feel we could have done with another one....preferably permanent. Otherwise it needs to be a striker who can also play as a winger.
 
Disappointed it's only another loan but can only assume City were asking just that bit too much money for him. Hopefully we have first option to buy him next summer as part of this loan deal because if he has another good season and does well in the CL.....City will have bids flying in from all of the other EPL clubs! And they will probably start at around £15m!

Starting CB.....we could go looking at Club Brugge. They've been knocked out of both the Champions League and Europa League. They tend to play with a back 3 and then two wing backs. However they currently have SEVEN CBs! One of them is injured but that still means they have plenty left!
Bjorn Engels is 22 and a giant and probably too expensive for us. Current value = £7.2m and he has 3 years left on his contract so that looks unlikely as we'd have to pay probably close to at least £10m for him.
Stefano Denswil - 24 year old former Dutch U21 international, came through the Ajax youth academy and for whatever reason decided to leave Ajax in January of 2015 on a free transfer for Brugge. In 2.5 years with Brugge he has made 100 appearances for the club, he made 39 for Ajax. So he was only 21 when he left AJax and he'd made 39 appearances, that's pretty good going. He has CL and EL experience. Technically he is quite good although not the best I've seen but coming from the Ajax academy, you know you're always going to get a good level of ability on the ball. He's more of a defender first kind of player rather than a "footballer" first if that makes any sense. He's not the sort to really break out and go on a mazy run up the pitch from CB. He's about 6"1 and is left footed so could give nice balance to us at the back. 3 years left on his deal, current value = £4.5m. So we'd be talking about probably having to pay somewhere in the region of £6m for him maybe?
The other option they have which might suit us is Brandon Mechele who I believe we were linked with a few years ago but they wanted too much money for him at the time. He had an injury or 2 and fell way down the pecking order at Brugge. His highest market value was around £4.5m but is now only £1.1m. It got so bad he went out on loan last season top one of the smallest teams in the league. However this season he is back in the fold and has played 4 out of the 5 league games so far this season for Brugge. He can also play RB, is about 6"1, he's 24 years old and has only 2 years left on his deal so we could get him for around the £4-5m sort of price maybe.

[youtube=KUs-QgcXyqI]
 
On another note, it looks like our former player Jackson Irvine is going to be on the move to Championship side Hull. Irvine came through our youth system and played a few times for the first team although mainly in pre-season but he put in some very promising performances! Unfortunately he didn't make the cut....somehow.....and after impressing at Ross County once he left Celtic, he joined Burton Albion who are now set to sell him to Hull for around £2m! Great news for a former Bhoy! :emoticon:01
 
So we're also being linked with out of favour Hertha Berlin attacker Valentin Stocker. Can play a number of positions in the forward area. The Swiss international wants first team football to make sure he keeps his place in the Switzerland national team and it doesn't look like he'll get much at Hertha. Former club FC Basel are said to be interested but apparently they're going to struggle with the 4m Euro asking price. With only 1 year left on his current contract and valued at £2.7m, 4m Euro is perhaps on the steep side for a player they don't even seem to want.
If we're actually interested, it could be a loan move for the 28 year old as similar to Basel, we might not be willing to pay that much, especially for a player who isn't going to be a first choice striker and he is unlikely to beat others out of the team to start on the wing. The only place he might start is in Rogic's position behind the striker, but we don't always play that formation!

[youtube=coY2TYnLaLw]
 
VVD from Southampton to Liverpool for £81m!

That's another £10.xm we'll be getting from the bank of VVD :emoticon:19 :emoticon:07

£22-23m total transfer fee to us from Southampton (in part via Liverpool).

_____________________________________________

Funnily enough Denswil has been mentioned on twitter today, wee_od :emoticon:35

A few names getting a mention over the past few days but I think it's just speculation/desperation with most tbh.

On Erik, Copenhagen boss Solbakken pretty much confirming what I said a week or so ago, ie, they can't afford him!

"We were in dialogue with Celtic, but the distance between our bid and their asking price was so great that there was no point dwelling on it."

Been some talk of a loan move to Italy for him but it's probably pish.

Was Irvine the kid with the long hair/ponytail?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Latest Celtic News