Rumors Roundup!
By: Matt | June 27th, 2009
There hasn’t been much in news in terms of the squad this week for Celtic. The coaching staff got a new addition with Stevie Wood as the first team goalkeeping coach. Artur Boruc (for now at least. Blogging tip #1, never listen to Bebo), Lukasz Zaluska, Mark Brown (hopefully not for long), Scott Fox, Daniele Giordano and Dominic Cervi will now be working with the former Motherwell and Hibernian keeper after previous coach Jim Blyth left along with Gordon Strachan last month. Wood has been in the Celtic coaching system for over 10 years now and said of being hired “This is a dream come true, I am absolutely delighted and I have realised an ambition of mine very, very early in my coaching career.” Welcome and good luck Stevie. New Celtic assistant manager Mark Venus had his first press conference this week, cautioning that Celtic were not going to buy players for buying’s sake this off-season, instead they will be looking for good fits. Finally, outgoing Celtic defender Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe had some kind, inspiring words for outgoing manager Gordon Strachan. Oh wait, it was the opposite of that. He said of Strachan “Everything was going well. Then I got injured against AC Milan in October, I came back fine before the manager gave me a really hard time. Last summer, I asked to leave when the club signed Andreas Hinkel. The manager categorically refused. He never played me again.” Who said Ginger Baws wasn’t a people person. Of course, the thing that makes the off-season tick are those hope inspiring, dream crashing transfer rumors. Now, there hasn’t been any Robbie Keane to Celtic rumors yet, but it is still early days. Here’s what we’ve heard so far…
With Shunsuke Nakamura heading to Spain, there’s discussion that Tony Mowbray may be interested in a South American prototype of Naka, in one Real Mallorca’s winger Juan Arango. The left-sided winger, whose strikes tend to be of the spectacular variety, is in the final year of his contract at the ONO Estadi and it’s understood he will be allowed to leave for £3 million.
The Agent of the Barcelona defender Martin Caceres wishes to keep his options opened until July 10 on the players move.The report says that Celtic are keeping taps on the player along with three other clubs .
Celtic and Nancy have allegedly agreed on a £3.8million fee for striker Marc-Antoine Fortune. It was originally reported that £3million fee would be enough, but other teams stepped up to the plate for Fortune, so it seems the price has gone up. One of those teams, Hull City, also seem willing to pony up the 3.8 million quid, so it’ll come down to who can negotiate terms with Fortune.
Perhaps my favorite rumor is that Celtic is lining up bids for the Spanish pair Fernando Marques and Xabi Castillo. Given the problems Celtic has had at leftback, Celtic fans are dreaming of a guy like Castillo defending the left flank for the Bhoys. Plus he can do this:
Castillo’s agent Joaquin Barcena has said last month that there was strong interest from Celtic, but he issued a terse “no comment” last night when asked to expand on the latest developments.
Finally, the last rumor of this roundup, a name that Celtic seems to be linked with every transfer season, Semir Stilic, revealed his dream move to Parkhead could be back on this summer. There was interest in him in January but a deal with Lech Poznan could not be done. Stilic seems interested in coming to Celtic still, so we might see him sign.
Have a good weekend, and be thankful for the lack of Steven Fletcher news.
Category: In the Press
Tags: Celtic, Fernando Marques, In the Press, Juan Arango, Marc Antoine Fortune, Martin Caceres, Semir Stilic, Shunsuke Nakamura, Stevie Wood, Transfer, Transfer Rumors, Xabi CastilloSubscribe
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Comments
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I would like to see Stilic in Celtic,he’s one of the greatest talents in Europe.
Posted from
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Why are we interested in another winger?
Are we not satisfied with the progress of Mizuno and McCourt?
We are going to take are 9-10m GBP transfer kitty and spread it thin spending 3m GBP on three positions we may not need rather than 5m GBP on two dynamic, impact positions we do need.
If they aquire Arango, how do we know he will adjust to Scottish life, let alone the fitba. As well, just because he may have more talent, doesn’t mean he is a better footballer. Paul McStay didn’t have as much talent as Jinky, but they are both legends.
Please, Celic’, don’t spread the cash thin. We sat through four seasons of trying to “fix” the left-back problem by aquiring a string of 500,000 quid to 2m GBP midfielders – then proceeded to play them everywhere but where they should be. Finally, we pluck a couple of potential gems – Mizuno & McCourt – and we are going to go cheap at left-back / striker to aquire another winger.
I DON’T UNDERSTAND!
1 x 5m GBP striker/finisher + 1 5m GBP left-back = League/Cup Double & last 16 UEFA CL
Hail! Hail!
RyanPosted from
United States -
LEFTBACK OPLZ
Posted from
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Ryan, who knows what kind of validity that rumor has. I hesitated to write about any of these, but decided to lump them all together under the title of rumors. Maybe Arango’s agent was looking for more money from Mallorca or another Spanish team, so he mentioned Celtic as being interested. I am really hopeful about Castillo and hope that I’m just not being led to disappointment, but it wouldn’t be the first time in the transfer season.
Posted from
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Aye,Matt,
I didn’t mean to pin you down on these. I’m just getting anxious with this summers transfer rumors.
I should be reading this headline: “CELTIC DETERMINED TO LAND TOP-NOTCH LEFT-BACK”, or…”CELTIC HAMMER AWAY AT MATCH WINNING STRIKER”,
Instead we are inundated with essentially diversional crap.
I’m not naive. I know we cannot swim in the CR7 end of the pool, but Celtic should say, “We can develop talent already in-house, present in positions of strength: CM, WH, CD, RB, GK…but we must address FW/SK and LB. That is where the money will go”.
Instead, we’ve been rumored to aquire three offensive mid-fielders; Vargas, Valerjo, Arango and two questionable strikers: Kamara & Fortune –
Questionable because Kamara is coming off a serious injury, is older and can’t seem to hold a place with a club where Clint Dempsey is liable to be top scorer.
Questionable because Fortune is having a serious debate about European Football versus a fat paycheck plus inevitable relegation.
The only striker I’ve seen that interests me is Simon Cox – because we should be the next step in his development. But even he, probabaly is not the finishing threat we need at this point in his career.
As for Left-back? The only rumors-with-legs concern Thimothee Atouba – whom will ultimately follow the money – and Paul Robinson, who is desperate to come to Celtic because he knows the gaffer will play ‘em…an uncertainty for the incoming WBA gaffer.
I don’t understand what we are doing.
Ryan
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Ryan, I understand your frustration in the process, but the way i see it is, I don’t get excited or mad until we sign someone because I’ve learned that following and getting your hopes up or down on all the speculation. I’ll be happy or mad when they’re holding that scarf above their head at Parkhead. Some names I’ve heard have gotten me excited though…
Posted from
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The young Spanish boys being linked is exciting but the team needs lads that can go straight in and make an impact, I worry the young ones will take a while to settle and will only be squad players for a season or two
Posted from
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I agree Celtic Shirts, but in todays financial climate and the club’s size dictate we have to buy younger. We simply can’t compete with the EPL financially when it comes to buying players. We have to buy young talented guys. The problem with the last coach was that these young players were bought but they just sat on the bench while SPL fodder was played. These youngsters don’t improve when they don’t get a chance and then when they get a game, fans are upset that they are unprepared. They’re unprepared because they weren’t played.
Posted from
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The papers are fishing. Agents are feeding them lines and I reckon the only nailed on bid is for Marc Antoine Fortune.
Once the players return and Mogga speaks to the ones who have bids on the table and are out of contract either now or in a years time will we see movement in and out.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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