Celtic had a dud summer transfer window as they lost some of their more important players to other teams. They went in level on points with Rangers in the winter transfer period, and that might have been a blessing in disguise as that would have made the board and the manager realise that they need to strengthen their options given the fact that Rangers had managed to close the gap between them.
The Hoops made some crucial signings in this transfer window and they more or less rectified all the mistakes that they made earlier. It’s true some of the signings are just on loan, but they are at least well sorted for the rest of the season.
Here is all the business done by the Hoops in this window.
Ins: Calvin Miller (returned from loan), Oliver Burke (loan, West Brom) Timothy Weah (loan, PSG) Vakoun Issouf Bayo (Dunajska Streda), Andrew Gutman (Indiana Hosiers), Manny Perez (North Carolina State), Calvin Miller (loan, Ayr), Jeremy Toljan (loan, Borussia Dortmund)
*Marian Shved was signed by Celtic in this window but he has been loaned back to Ukrainian side Karpaty Lviv for the rest of the season.
Outs: Conor Hazard (Partick Thistle, loan), Scott Allan (pre-contract, Hibs) Jack Aitchison (Alloa, loan), Lewis Morgan (Sunderland, loan), Youssouf Mulumbu (loan, Kilmarnock), Calvin Miller (loan, Ayr)
We will try and discuss some of the major ins and what kind of impact they will have on the squad.
One of the primary area where the club needed reinforcement was in the attacking department. Rodgers didn’t get any time to replace Moussa Dembele earlier and Leigh Griffiths, later on, decided to take some time off football due to personal reasons. That left the club with Odsonne Edouard as the lone striker who was struggling with an injury during the start of the transfer window. The Hoops sorted that dilemma by bringing in attacking players like Vakoun Issouf Bayo, Timothy Weah and Oliver Burke.
Issouf Bayo was having a terrific time in the Slovakian league, and Timothy Weah is known as a bright talent from Paris Saint Germain. Oliver Burke has already found his footing in Scotland and has two goals to his name. So attacking wise Rodgers managed to add decent depth and quality.
Another major boost for the club was that they were able to keep hold of Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic. Both of the central defenders are likely to depart in the summer, but for the time being, they have two solid defenders at their disposal.
A major headache turned out to be signing a right back. Quite a few names did the round (The Scottish Sun) like Timothy Castagne, Fernando Fonseca, Omar Elabdellaou. However, in a final twist, Celtic managed to make a massive coup for Borussia Dortmund’s fullback Jeremy Toljan. The German has struggled for game time with the Bundesliga heavyweights this season but he was more or less regular for them until the last season. He is definitely going to be an upgrade over Mikael Lustig and the Hoops fans would be delighted to secure this deal just in time before the window got shut.
Exit wise, no major first-team players left the club, and Rodgers managed to keep hold of all his key players.
All in all, a successful window for Celtic but the only dampener is that quite a few crucial signings are just on loan. So maybe for that, we would rate it at 7.5/10.
