Former Celtic attacking midfielder Kris Commons reckons there will be a ‘wild west’ feel to the Scottish transfer window over the next few months, writing in his Scottish Daily Mail column this week (27/07 print edition, Verdict supplement page 16).
Celtic have already completed a loan deal for Mohamed Elyounoussi and look to be on the verge of bringing in international stars Vasilis Barkas and Albian Ajeti.
However, with the transfer window not closing until October 5th due to the chaos that our public health crisis caused, there’s plenty of time left to add real quality to Neil Lennon’s squad.
Outspoken pundit Commons, who appeared as a weekly guest on BBC Sportsound last season and is now searching for a new TV gig (Scottish Sun), reckons that there could be something of a transfer ‘shootout’ between the Bhoys and city rivals Rangers.
As quoted by The Scottish Daily Mail (27/07 print edition, Verdict supplement page 16), he said: “The window will remain open until October 5, by which point most clubs in the SPFL Premiership will have played ten games. That’s almost a full round of fixtures, only for a club to potentially rejig half their squad if they can get certain deals over the line.
“It’s going to be like the wild west. Deals will get ambushed or hijacked at the 11th hour when a rival club swoops in.
“It’s not uncommon for the Old Firm clubs to be looking at signing the same player. It happened with myself and John Hartson, to name a couple.
“With so much at stake in the new campaign, it promises to be one hell of a shootout if the SPFL’s top two gunslingers go head to head once again.”
You, like me, may be hoping that Celtic are operating in different markets than the Ibrox side.
However, predictably over the last few months, we have been linked with a number of the same targets.
That’s not to say they have the ability to beat us to signings.
We’ve shown over the last few years we are capable of making big signings like Odsonne Edouard and Christopher Jullien, both of whom would have been unlikely to end up on the other side of the city.
Celtic are unlikely to be paying too much attention to what’s happening transfer wise at Rangers. We have our own ambitions and our own squad problems to solve.
If we get things right, it doesn’t really matter what they do, despite Commons’ chaotic window assertion.
In other news, Vasilis Barkas has landed in Glasgow ahead of his move to Celtic.
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