Celtic’s winter transfer business consisted of six additions, including five loan deals.
But before we had even hit the turn of the year, reports suggested that Celtic were close to signing Jocelin Ta Bi.
The Ivorian winger, playing in Israel, was set for a January move with multiple clubs interested. Once the Hoops struck a deal, Ta Bi headed for a medical, even publicly voicing his excitement for the move to Glasgow.
As this was taking place, Celtic sacked Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale, completely transforming their recruitment set-up. The move went quiet, before it emerged that the 20-year-old had issues with his medical.
It was a saga at this point. Everything was concluded when, in one final twist, Sunderland hijacked Celtic’s deal to sign Ta Bi.
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Celtic target Jocelin Ta Bi’s Premier League debut for Sunderland
If going from the Israeli Premier League to the Scottish Premiership was a jump, swapping that move for the Premier League was a giant leap.
Celtic had decided that the player needed an operation, but Sunderland immediately integrated him into training, handing him an FA Cup debut from the bench against Oxford United last week.
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To many fans’ surprise, he was thrown to start against Fulham on Sunday, making his Premier League debut for the Black Cats.
On the other wing was fellow January signing Nilson Angulo, who was heavily linked with Celtic last summer. Firmly out of the Hoops’ reach six months later, he made a £17.5 million move to Wearside.
Ta Bi’s performance was encouraging, but his worst-case scenario played out after 34 minutes, as he had to be withdrawn due to injury.
Could this prove Celtic’s point, perhaps? There was no contact involved in the injury – he simply sat down and called for the physios.
The game ended up in a 3-1 win for Fulham, just a second home league defeat for Sunderland since their return to the top-flight.
Regis Le Bris has done an incredible job at the Stadium of Light – will his gamble on Ta Bi work out? Time will tell…
Rate Pauls Tisdale’s performance as Celtic’s head of operations in the comments below.
'In my role I will be doing all I can to further develop our work across talent identification, development and analytics, always with the aim of ensuring high-level support of football performance.'
Jocelin Ta Bi on his agreed Celtic move
Things could’ve been very different for Ta Bi – he even spoke publicly about how excited he was for his move to Glasgow.
The Ivorian said: “Playing for a club like Celtic is a dream come true for me.
“But without the support and love I received in Israel, I would not have reached these levels. The decision to come here and the trust I received from the club and my friends led me to progress.
“I will not forget the period I have had on loan at Hapoel Petah Tikva and the love and warmth that surrounded me.
“I am going to fulfil a big dream, at a famous club and in one of the best stadiums in the world.”
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