With all the talk of incomings and outgoings, its easy to forget that in Lewis Morgan and Ryan Christie we already have a couple of players ready to make their mark on the first team.
Christie, of course, excelled at Aberdeen , who will be weaker without him, and morgan played his part in helping St mirren get back into the top tier.
Manager Brendan Rodgers has already said that christie will not be going back out on loan, and so it looks certain he’ll get his chance to show what he can do , probably quite early in the season.
Morgan will have a bit of a task to break into the team, but competition for places always means the cream rises to the top, and he’s got as much chance as anyone of making the grade.
The player spoke of his recent chat with the manager on Celtic TV..
“I had a wee chat with him [ and he welcomed me to the club,”
“He was saying what he expected of me and stuff and just to really kick on in pre-season and try and get into his thoughts.
“I always had that belief within myself anyway.
“I know it’s a tough task, the squad here is full of quality and I know it’s going to be tough to break into it but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could add something to the team.”
In training recently, and the video is out there somewhere, Morgan provided an assist for an acrobatic Leigh Griffiths overhead kick, which shows not only can he run, but his crosses can find a team mate.
Scott Sinclair will be looking over his shoulder…
Andreas Hinkel, ( remember him ? ) thinks that Marvin Comperr (remember him ? ) will make his presence felt this season…
“I am sure that he will look upon it as another opportunity,” he said. “It has been a difficult time for him and I am sure that he will have been more disappointed than anyone not to make an impression at Celtic.
“I know that Dedryck Boyata is with Belgium just now for the World Cup and that means that you really need someone else in there for those early qualifiers.
“The big thing for Marvin will be that he gets a good pre-season in. He has huge experience and he is a very intelligent player. He thinks about the game which can make the difference but at the same time you also need your body to be 100% in order to be able to do what you want it to.
“He will be hoping that he can get his fitness right and then take it from there. But every player believes that they can make a difference. If he does manage to get himself into the starting line-up then he will think that he can stay in there and offer his experience for the benefit of the team.”
The first game of the pre season is on Wednesday. It could well be a case of now or never for the defender.
Incidentally, the friendly is not against “rangers 2, despite what you may have seen in the tv listings..
Hinkel rates Comperr, and thinks he might yet surprise us all.
“He has a good pedigree and I did think that when he signed for Celtic in January that he would be a good fit for the club. I thought that his experience would be significant for them and I still think that is something that can be utilised for the benefit of the team.
“It is unfortunate for him that it was a slow start. He has played at other countries but I do think that you need time to settle and adapt to a new culture. Getting injured just after he arrived at a winter training camp would have been difficult for him because that is when you want to get to know your new team-mates and get to know the club so it would have put him on the backfoot right away.
“He will believe in himself. He will think that if he gets the chance of getting into the team this summer than he can stay there.”
With Dederyck Boyata likely to be at the World Cup for a while yet, comperr may well get a chance to show what he can do.
Other talk of incomngs has quietened a little , which usually means something is about to happen.
It could be that John McGinn is about to come home,which will happen at some point, or it could be that Sam Byram is heading north, or it could be that John Terry is about to land, claiming that he alone is responsible for ten in a row.
More likely, though, is a cut price Patrick Roberts returning north, before Manchester city change their minds again.
Another Manchester based player, Scott McTominay, who recently chose to play for Scotland instead of england, has been mentioned as a possible loan target, which would be a bit of a surprise, considering the lad is on the verge of making it at old Trafford, but then again, stranger things have happened.
Not often, right enough.
When convicted woman beater Jon Flanagan joined “rangers “, there were a few eyebrows raised in surprise, but its fairly obvious no one else would take a chance in him. One piss poor record journalist claims Celtic made him an offer earlier this month, but the player turned it down and has joined the Gerrard revolution instead, presumably for more money, and it would have to be much more money to entice him over there, so we can perhaps dismiss this claim.
However, Alan Brazil, the Talksport Radio in house drunk, thinks it’s odd that Celtic didn’t want him..
“When I think back to Flanagan’s breakthrough season at Liverpool, it strikes me that Brendan Rodgers was in charge.
“That makes me wonder why, if Flanagan’s as good as Steven Gerrard reckons he is, Brendan has never tried to land him for Celtic?”
Take your time, Alan, you’ll work it out..
Something else we need to worry about…how about this for nonsense ?
From Davies Left Peg, perhaps one of the more , er, imaginative of the Ibrox bloggers..
On a pleasant June Summer’s evening recently, a meeting took place between a few individuals in Max’s Italian Restaurant, Oxford Street, Southampton. Directly next door to the Grapes Bar. At this rendezvous were two representatives from the 2nd most successful club in Scotland. Alongside were people from Southampton Football Club and a few others. I am in possession of the names of all involved but due to a promise, I will not reveal them.
Despite claims of how wealthy Glasgow’s Irish/Catalonian/Palestinian football club is, it would appear beneath the surface all is not well. This meeting was arranged with one sole purpose and that was to help Celtic raise money. Seems strange a cash rich business would be desperate to bolster their coffers? Many Celtic players were discussed and offered up for sale. It would appear the constant made up stories such as “Craig Gordon to Chelsea” or “Dembele for £35 Million” or “Manchester United Inquire About Tierney” have come back to bite them on the arse. There are no offers and as valued players approach the final year in their contract, there’s desperation in the air.
The money men at the Republican sympathisers seem to be getting very twitchy indeed. Could it be that an entire rebuild of the stadium is required? Or perhaps a large cash settlement for the club’s involvement in the abuse of children for knowingly allowing a peadophile ring to exist at the club? What we can say with certainty is that whilst their fans have been concentrating on the World’s Most Successful Club, things are clearly going unnoticed within the Leaning Tower of Porkheid.
The result of this meeting was essentially an agreement to become Southampton’s feeder club. As of now, the Saints get first pick of any Celtic player. Celtic offered numerous first team players, only one met the standard required by Southampton. Another player was discussed as a possibility in the January transfer window. Despite the hard sell of Moussa Dembele at a knock down rate, the deal was a non starter. Amusingly, it is 100% certain that Southampton stated their interest in Alfredo Morelos. Unfortunately, according to the Southampton representatives,
“Dave King stated that he would never do business with them”.
The reasoning behind that statement is unknown as the details were not revealed. What we know to be factually correct is that the Celtic representatives left the meeting disappointed at the outcome; only one player sold at a fire sale price when the target was to extract many millions from the only club to have shown any interest.
A Celtic squad player, Stuart Armstrong, is the only one who came up to scratch, and all they would pay is a maximum £7m with add ons.
This guy knows a crisis when he sees one…
He later asks why “Celtic bloggers ” haven;t picked up on this story, and again, maybe he should take his time, and try to work it out…
Or you could ponder as to why he himself has missed the latest from ibrox, as explained here by Phil MacGhiollabhan, who despite being right more often than wrong, somehow still isn;t trusted by anyone as he charts the demise of a club from Ibrox, for a second time…
phil‘s Summary
There was no diary yesterday, so we go back to Saturday for this picture.
Caption “how many of these SFA officals do we have to open up till we find one with some back bone”
today..