Celtic as Barca’s Feeder Club?
By: Matt | August 11th, 2008
Upon the aftermath of the Marc Crosas deal, BFF’s (that is Best Friends Forever for those who are not 14 year old girls) Celtic and Barca continued to give each other back rubs and high fives. Apparently the Crosas’ deal might be the first of similar deals where Celtic get a young Barca player with the chance of a Barcelona buyback if they so fancy. Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell has commented on his hope that Celtic might be able to sign these type of players with the possibility of Barca buying them back upon them feeling that they are good enough for the first team. Lawwell said of this “Hopefully it makes a lot of sense. Not only with Barcelona but maybe with other clubs too. The rationale is that this is a young player that we want and we get him for a reasonable commitment in terms of the fee. Barcelona have not given up on the boy, they still believe in him and they have an option to buy him back in a couple of years. If they don’t buy him back they will retain 25% of his worth going forward. If they do buy him back, then we will have 25% of his worth. So we have a 25% stake in the worth of a Barcelona first-team player. I think it works. And also for however long he is here we have a player who we think will help us improve. We have formed a very good relationship with Barcelona. A young or fringe Barcelona player could come here, play in our first team, play in front of 60,000 and in Europe and develop as a player. Both clubs could benefit from that.”
As with everything in life, there are positives and negatives with this sort of deal. Getting a shot at Barca’s young talent will help the squad and if they are eventually plucked back by Barca, Celtic would get a financial gain. However, some like myself, are not to happy about being a “feeder club” for anyone. I have a huge amount of respect for Barcelona FC. The supporters, the way the club is run, and the history are all admirable. However, Celtic is no one’s feeder club. While it is nice to get along with another club like Barca and get the inside track with good young players, we should not be developing other teams talent. We should develop our own talent. We should be competing with Barcelona in Europe, not helping them to develop their own talent. We should be focusing on our own talent and their development, not some other teams’, no matter how good of pals we are. In fact, our motto when it comes to other teams players should be taken from “The Celtic Song”, “What the hell do we care now?!”
TAL
Category: Celtic
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Wow, I think saying a glorified loan deal makes Celtic Barca’s feeder club is a bit extreme.
Its a two way street. Celtic is hopefully going to reap the benefits of all the coaching, time, and money that Barca put into Crosas’ development.
And if he performs and returns to Barca, Celtic will have made themselves a handy profit. It seems like a heady piece of business on the part of both clubs.
Celtic’s honor is hardly at stake over this deal or any similar ones they might make. Its the modern game, and for Celtic to compete innovation is required.
I appreciate your idyllic view of the club, but Lawwell, Strachan and Co. are dealing with the hard reality of today’s transfer market.
We should be praising their adaptability and creativity rather than focusing on some meaningless perception.
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JT-I wasn’t saying that the Crosas deal was a glorified loan, I was just cautioning against Barca sending their youngsters to grow up and return to their place. I actually love the Crosas move and think it will be huge, but I don’t think, just because we’re Barca’s favorite kid brother, do this often.
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To add, I think that while this deal might get some good players in the Hoops, it might hurt our very good youth system. If we know that we are getting some kids from Barca, the focus will be on them and not on the future Aiden McGeady’s, Paul Caddis’, and Stephen McManus’. There won’t be the focus on finding Scotland’s best talent but rather cultivating these young Catalonians who may or may not be here. Now we might sell guys like McGeady in the future, but if we are selling back possible Barca prospects then there is probably an agreed upon price.
For example, let’s say in some crazy hypothetical world we got Aiden from Barca in a Crosas type of deal and after last year Barca have the option to buy him back for an already agreed upon price. Now to say that Aiden’s stock would have gone up would be an understatement raising any potential selling price, but since in the hypothetical world we’ve agreed upon the selling price already we’re stuck giving Barca a bargain.
I agree with Strachan when he says we have limited financial resources, but let us not make us out to be misers here. A combination of spending when necessary and creative deals is crucial. The Crosas deal is a good move, but we can’t rely on these type of deals just as we can’t rely on spending like Scrooge McDuck (I think Dermond Desmond looks a bit like the Ducktales Scrooge anyways and I can easily picture him swimming in gold coins
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Poorly phrased on my part, glorified loan was my termn, and it wasn’t mean to be a negative thing at all. Thats just kind of how I see the Crosas deal.
Maintaining a strong reserve and youth setup is what we all would like to see, and Celtic have done ok on that front. But outside of Aiden, McManus, and Maloney, most of the guys who come from the academy are bit players or not good enough for the first team. So we can’t count on that to keep us competitive in Europe.
You’re right, Celtic’s financial situation is not dire, but what Celtic can do in the market is so much different than what most other European powers can do, so they have to be creative.
Look at the bind that Gravesen and Bobo’s wages have put Celtic in. And probably the only player on a squad like Barca’s that make 40m/week is a backup keeper.
Celtic are playing in a different market while playing on the same pitch with these giants, so if they bring in some rich clubs kids, they help us win trophies, and they go back to their original club with Celtic a bit richer, I say good business.
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