There’s been a fair amount of discussion out there about whether or not Celtic fans should be worried at the club’s lack of business in the January transfer window so far.
Certainly, the Bhoys need to bring in some quality additions to bolster Brendan Rodgers’ squad and after an underwhelming summer window, the pressure is on the recruitment and negotiating staff to deliver.
It’s worth looking back on recent years and taking a look at what kind of business has been done when in this window previously and what it may tell us about what’s ahead.
Celtic’s recent January transfer window history
Back in 2016/17, Rodgers’ first season at the club, the winter window was a meagre one after the manager had made the majority of his buys at the start of the campaign. Only Eboue Kouassi arrived but that deal was wrapped up and announced by 12th January.
Rodgers’ second January period was busier and two moves were actually delivered early on with Marvin Compper announced in December and Lewis Morgan pitching up by the 5th. The rest were completed in the final days of the window with moves for Charly Musonda, Scott Bain and Jack Hendry.
The third and final winter period for Rodgers during his initial reign at Celtic has been the subject of intrigue ever since. There’s doubt about how much the manager was involved in any of these deals and he rather publicly distanced himself with a move for Marian Shved announced on deadline day, before leaving the club for Leicester shortly after. Oliver Burke, Timo Weah and Vakoun Bayo had all also arrived in the first eight days of the window, while Jeremy Toljan was a late, ultimately unsuccessful loan.
In 2020, Celtic moved for Patryk Klimala and Ismaila Soro, who arrived on the 14th and 27th of the month as Neil Lennon looked to strengthen depth in an eventual title-winning squad. Notoriously, a year later in 2021, Celtic only managed to sign Jonjoe Kenny in what looked like a panicky deadline-day switch.
Ange Postecoglou ended Celtic’s streak of underwhelming January deals when he arrived at the club and, pleasingly, always delivered early. Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi were announced as signings a day before 2022’s January window officially opened, with Matt O’Riley in the door by the 20th.
Last season Alistair Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata were similarly done deals before the window even started before Hyeongyu Oh arrived on January 25th.
In each of the last seven seasons then, Celtic have completed business by the 14th and while Nicolas Kuhn is reported to be on the brink of a switch, he’ll be the latest initial signing when it comes to January deals at the club for quite a while.
In that context, it’s understandable that some fans want to see the club take action and address squad deficiencies in short order.
What’s clear is that the league leaders are often active in the final two weeks of the window, so there’s plenty of hope that the additions we want will arrive.
Concerningly, outside of the Postecoglou reign, Celtic’s winter business in recent years has been pretty poor, so the club have a lot to prove this month.
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