Celtic’s transfer policy has come under some serious scrutiny this season.
Even though Brendan Rodgers admits he signed off on all of Celtic’s summer signings, all of them bar one have really struggled to make it at the club.
Luis Palma is really the only player you could class as having some sort of success at the club. The Honduran did have a great start to his season but has gone off the boil recently.
However, even after spending over £7m on the likes of Gustaf Lagerbielke and Maik Nawrocki, it just shows you that spending a large sum of money doesn’t always guarantee that a player will come and be a huge success.
Celtic’s win over Rangers starts transfer debate
Even after effectively sealing the title yesterday, a Celtic fan called BBC 606 to ask Chris Sutton how Celtic kick on in the transfer market to strengthen the team.
The fan is frustrated at the club’s policy ofsigning development players after having so much money in the bank.
But Sutton actually defended Celtic and said that it’s not their fault that they need to shop in that market.
Sutton said [BBC 606], “Celtic and Rangers I mean they have to buy development players because just look down south and the ridiculous money which is being spent on bang average players.
“So that’s where I do have massive sympathy for Celtic and Rangers in that respect. I do think though a lot of Celtic fans feel that way about Celtic needing to perform better in European competition.
“£10m is still a development player in today’s market. Ange Postecoglou got on the right side of the signings in terms of knowing the J League so well and brought in Kyogo and Hatate and that was due to his knowledge of the J League.”
The truth of the matter is that even though Celtic can afford to spend £10m on a player, they simply cannot afford a £10m player’s salary in this day and age.
The best-paid player at Celtic is Callum McGregor. The Hoops captain is reportedly on £37k per week. £6m signing, Cameron Carter-Vickers, is on £24k so just imagine that if we went and got a £10m player, you are looking at placing them in the same bracket (or more) than the Celtic captain. [SalarySport]
I would love nothing more than for Celtic to go and spend all that money and whilst I believe that they do need to lift the ceiling on the £3m fee they normally pay, I believe that this fans hope to spend the kind of money he wants the club to on players is simply not going to happen.
Not whilst Celtic remain in Scotland, anyway.