Former Celtic man Davie Provan has stated that Peter Lawwell needs to up his game before the transfer window is over.
Lawwell sanctioned the £25million sale of Kieran Tierney to Arsenal last Thursday (Metro). It was yet another success story for Celtic with regards to their model of buying low and selling high. Better yet, Tierney’s graduation from the academy means that Celtic didn’t spend a single penny on him in particular.
But the main frustration for Hoops fans will be the fact that, despite recent big-money sales, we haven’t seen enough of that cash invested into the squad. We hate to go back to the John McGinn scenario, but penny-pinching has always been a trait of Lawwell’s.
And Provan believes that now isn’t the time to be trying to save a few quid with 10-in-a-row so close. Speaking in the Scottish Sun, the ex-Celt had this to say on Lawwell’s work:
“Celtic are currently weaker than they were last season. You can’t tell me Boli Bolingoli, Hatem Abd Elhamed and Christopher Jullien are an upgrade on Tierney, Mikael Lustig and Filip Benkovic.
“If the board are serious about Europe and crushing a league challenge from Rangers, the transfer market is the only place to show it. The money is there to allow Lennon to put his own mark on the squad. Not just by filling jerseys but by bringing in the type who’ll go straight into the team and improve it.
“Given the financial advantage Celts enjoy, they could put themselves out of Gerrard’s reach without breaking sweat. For long enough Hoops punters have been told every penny of profit goes back into the club. If that’s the case, it’s sure as hell not going on transfer fees for players.”
Transfer window can only be judged when it’s over
It’s difficult to have much of a dig at Lawwell at the moment. As it stands, he’s just secured a fantastic deal for the club in reeling in £25m from the Tierney sale.
Granted, big-money sales don’t win you championships. But if we re-invest it in several areas for Neil Lennon to strengthen, then we can’t complain.
At the moment, when you add up our transfer business so far, Celtic have spent a total of nearly £12m. £3m for Boli (The Herald), £7m for Christopher Jullien (Scottish Sun), and £1.6m for Hatem Abd Elhamed (The Herald). There was also the small fee for Luca Connell, but let’s dismiss that for now. Considering we’ve raked £25m in for Tierney, that’s just under a £14m profit this summer.
There’s money there for the club to spend. We certainly shouldn’t have been budgeting for Tierney to depart. Regardless of whether you agree with Provan regularly, he’s right about needing to invest in the squad, and there should certainly be plenty of it available.
With regards to Provan’s comparison of our three signings, he’s only right on one. Boli isn’t an upgrade on Tierney, but Hatem Abd Elhamed certainly looks promising. As for Jullien, we’ve still to see enough of him – a verdict cannot as of yet be reached. It’s harsh to look down all three as downgrades to their predecessors.
But he’s right on Lawwell needing to splash the Tierney cash. This Celtic side still needs more cover in some key areas of the pitch. It’s down to him to not let the fans down like he so often has done in the past.
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