Neil Lennon has defended Celtic’s signings in the 20-21 season, and explained why the club missed out on Ivan Toney.
Asked directly whether he had final say on transfers, Lennon claimed it was a collective decision. He also claimed that the players brought in last summer could still “come good” in “normal” circumstances. David Turnbull, for example, had an excellent debut campaign with the Bhoys, winning Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.
Ivan Toney, however, slipped the net, and Neil Lennon has explained how.
With the BBC’s Tom English firing the questions on BBC Radio Scotland, Lennon defended his and the club’s transfer policy.
Lennon said [BBC Radio Scotland]:
“It was a collective. So you can’t just point the finger at one person.
“I can’t say [whether there players signed that Lennon didn’t want]. It was a collective, like I said. Put it this way, we did have other options that we couldn’t get, so you look at the next-best option that’s available and you try and work with that.
“I think these players could come good in a normal working environment, with crowds back, and having their normal lives. They may come good. It’s unfair to judge them on one really bad season, as a collective.
“We had Toney in the building at Lennoxtown when we were in France, so we were well down the line with that one. Just finances, I assume.”
Asked whether the Toney deal collapsed because of wage demands, Lennon joked:
“I can’t possibly comment…”
Nothing controversial here; Neil Lennon and Celtic were in sync on transfers, including Ivan Toney
There’s plenty to get annoyed at Celtic for, or even Neil Lennon, but some of these transfers looked solid. It’d be hypocritical to suggest that most supporters didn’t come out of the 20-21 summer transfer window excitedly.
Bringing back Elyounoussi was a wise move, as was signing David Turnbull. Barkas was an international goalkeeper, Shane Duffy is still the Ireland captain, Diego Laxalt has starred for Uruguay, and Albian Ajeti was prolific in Switzerland. On paper, all of these signings make sense now, as they did at the time. Ivan Toney was a missed opportunity, however.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, there were too many misshapen pieces. Duffy wasn’t comfortable playing a high line, and was caught out plenty by quick attackers. Barkas was the first sacrifice when our form started to turn, and his confidence was shot as a result.
Laxalt and Jonjoe Kenny’s late form was a massive disappointment, granted.
The club will obviously need to try a different strategy for 21-22. Whether these signings were scouted using analytics, or a combination of factors, most of them didn’t work out. That’s not all on Lennon, of course, but at least now we have some insight into how recruitment operated at Celtic last summer.
READ MORE: Some big pre-season news
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