There is no doubt that the Celtic board made a mess of the summer window.
That’s partly why Celtic fans continue to protest against the board, including wanting key members, such as Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson, out of the door.
There is no doubt that Celtic are one of the biggest clubs in the world, but from a financial perspective, they can’t compete with certain parts of Europe, especially the English Premier League, La Liga in Spain, Italy’s top-tier or the Bundesliga in Germany.
But it’s so apt that, whilst Celtic produced an abject 2025 summer transfer window, Club Brugge in Belgium, who don’t exactly fall in the backdrop of huge financial money like the Hoops in Scotland, showed the champions just how to do it.
Celtic told to copy Club Brugge’s model amid fans’ protest
Last season, Club Brugge reached the last-16 of the Champions League, and just like Celtic, had to go through qualifiers this summer to secure their ticket alongside the elite, and did so by demolishing Rangers.
Added to that, Brugge thrashed Monaco 4-1 on their opening night of Europe’s elite competition, this is despite losing so many big players in the summer.
But, whilst Celtic left it late beyond belief to enhance their squad, those in the Belgian Pro League showed the champions of Scotland how to do it.
And now, speaking on Go Radio, Peter Grant wants Celtic to follow the model of Club Brugge, who sold ‘£80 million’ worth of talent, and spent around half of that.
“Look at Brugge,” said Grant. “I think we should be a Brugge. Qualified constantly for it. They sell money for big players, what, £80 million or something this summer?
“They brought £40 million worth of players in. That’s the way you have got to work it. Don’t tell me Brugge are bigger than Celtic.”
Club Brugge show Celtic the way with transfer dealings
The likes of AC Milan, newly-promoted Sunderland and Brighton were beneficiaries of raiding Club Brugge for some of their stars over the summer.
The biggest transfer deal conducted was Ardon Jashari returning to AC Milan for £32 million, as well as left-back Maxim de Cuyper joining Brighton for £17.5 million.
But what’s key about these deals is that Brugge got them done as quickly as possible and brought in replacements, including before their Champions League qualifiers.
One of them includes Nicolò Tresoldi, who joined from Hannover 96, played in all the qualifiers, including scoring and assisting during the demolition job of Rangers.
Midfielder Aleksandar Stanković was another player who scored during that Gers game. Whilst Carlos Forbs netted a crucial equaliser in the previous round when Brugge saw past Red Bull Salzburg.
Surprise, surprise, new faces, summer signings, signed early and netting crucial goals to help Brugge into the Champions League.
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