Celtic were humbled by Valencia in the Europa League as they suffered a 2-0 defeat on Thursday night. Even more than the loss, what would have worried Brendan Rodgers was the way his team surrendered meekly. It looked like the Hoops could have played another 90 minutes of football without threatening Valencia.
Former Celtic striker and England international Chris Sutton recently slammed the Bhoys for their transfer policy and indicated that the Scottish giants need to change their approach if they want to improve in European competitions. He wrote in Daily Record, ”I realise they can’t spend £160m like Valencia did…but spending £8m or £10m at the right times for the key positions when the manager needs them might just help bridge some of the gap. Loan moves are all right at the right time and I understand they can be great, but not all the time.”
It’s clear that Sutton is taking a dig at Celtic’s loan signings which they acquired last month. The club got some top quality players in the form of Oliver Burke, Timothy Weah and Jeremy Toljan. However, the trio only joined the Glaswegian outfit on a six-month loan deal so the Hoops will have to rebuild their team once again in the summer.
Moreover, Filip Benkovic who played a crucial role for Celtic in the first half of the season is also on loan and the centre back too would return to Leicester City in the summer. One needs to realise that these are some top talents and Celtic will find it difficult to sign them permanently so one can sympathise with Rodgers as well.
Weah is seen as a big prospect at PSG and has already made his senior team debut for them at the age of 18. West Brom spent a massive £15m to bring Burke to the Hawthorns. Therefore, they would want to see him come good. It is the same with Leicester City’s Benkovic who is seen as a long term replacement for someone like Wes Morgan.
When the loan players move away, there is no continuity left in the team, and the manager needs to develop the new players coming in and the existing players also need to get used to their new team-mates. Out of the lot signed by Rodgers in January, only Jeremy Toljan seems like a target which Celtic can pull off as the fullback failed to make a single appearance for Dortmund in the Bundesliga this season.
However, he isn’t likely to come in cheap as the right-back still has his contract up until 2022. If Celtic want to reach the next level, especially in Europe, they need to show ambition in the transfer market so Sutton is right in claiming that the Hoops need to re-evaluate their transfer policy.
