Celtic Rumours Archive December 19 2016

19 Dec 2016 04:05:54
Just reading there we had scouts at the Anderlecht Eupen game last night. Could lead to nothing of course but Belgium and particularly Anderlecht could be a good hunting ground for us imo and there's a few players there who wet my lips. Tielemans and Dendoncker (scored twice) the pick of the bunch, like Dembele, widely considered Europe's better prospects. There's Kara who I have seen mentioned by a few folk on here and is a classy centre half, a big athlete too. Or possibly from Eupen, they have a handy wing forward by the name of Henry Onyekuru.

19 Dec 2016 09:07:58
All good that you might be looking at Tielemans and Dendoncker but that is as far as that one will go. Kara, yeah sure he could be a good signing for you, but he'd cost you £5mil plus. That doesn't exactly work with the Celtic transfer policy (buy low sell high) . If I'm being honest aswell I don't see many players wanting to leave belgium and come to Scotland, they have a better quality of league over there. Unless ofcourse it is players who aren't getting first team action.

19 Dec 2016 10:17:07
OSA, thankfully I don't think 5m will be an issue now; with Rodgers in, Dermot Desmond having a bit of a wake up, and no John Park/ Peter Lawell transfer team. I think we'll now start to see the correct levels of investment, that we should have all along.

As for players coming to Scotland from Belgium. I don't see why Glasgow Celtic, playing in the Champions League regularly can't attract players from Belgium. We could always offer them more money if we're not attractive enough already. Dembele came from a better quality league.

19 Dec 2016 10:36:30
Maybe Celtic will change their policy, maybe they will spend some of that money. Most players worth going for in Belgium play for the bigger sides, meaning they are already on a big wage and have European football each year, not to mention the football is far more competitive in Belgium. Dembele to Celtic was always a strange one to me, Maybe the lure of European football and Scotland being of a lesser quality made him and his agent think it was a good move?

19 Dec 2016 11:02:32
OSA, I understand where you're coming from. Take Dendoncker for example. A young player, already playing for the biggest club in their homeland, already with the prospect of European football, might not see Celtic as a step forward. Then again they might. That said player might not be Belgian either, and might see Celtic as a more attractive option (I'm biased aye, but I would) . I still think we have the financial muscle too, to offer a player in Belgium a better salary. And let's face it, money often talks. The average Anderlecht player salary is 600k pa, or roughly 12k a week. We're safe there. Anderlecht would be well within their rights to demand £20m for Dendoncker. But shy bairns get nothing, and unless we try we won't know. The club has adopted the wrong mentality for several years, and sadly it's rubbed off on a lot of the fans. End of, I'd dare to dream and go for a player like that, and I've seen stranger moves than a player going from Anderlecht to Celtic.

{Ed001's Note - Celtic do have a lot more money than any team in Belgium. Also Belgian teams are built around selling to survive, so they are always willing to accept offers that match their asking price for a player.}

19 Dec 2016 11:21:03
I thought we did have Ed, that's a good added point about their strategy as clubs.

{Ed001's Note - thank you.}

19 Dec 2016 11:44:12
Wages won't be the issue it'll be the asking price, if i'm being honest I hope you do manage to improve your squad, Scotland needs a team doing well in Europe right now.