The Celtic boss knows the rules having gone from trying to sign Declan Rice to ending up with Eboue Kouassi.
There’s one thing about which Celtic’s fans can feel comforted, now the transfer window is beginning to edge shut at the same time as anxiety levels are starting to rise.
With time running out before the midnight deadline on Thursday, February 1, they can rest assured Brendan Rodgers won’t be reaching for any panic buttons just yet. Rodgers has been in this particular movie more times than he cares to remember over the years and, at the age of 50, he’s experienced enough to acknowledge that, more often than not, patience is an invaluable virtue at this time of year.
On Sunday, moments after he addressed the broadcast media following his side’s 5-0 Scottish Cup battering of little Buckie Thistle, it was left to a band of us from the written brigade to break some awkward news to Celtic’s manager in the corridor outside. Because, pretty much as he was taking his seat behind the microphones, Owen Beck was being subbed on by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp for the remaining 27 minutes of a 4-0 second half thumping of Bournemouth.
Rodgers didn’t say much. As a matter of fact, he brushed it off with an unconvincing smile and a shrug of the shoulders. But this impromptu ambush did appear at least to take him by surprise, as well it might.
Celtic, after all, had been actively pursuing Beck as a potential January target right up until that very moment. And Record Sport has been told by sources close to the youngster that Beck was more than willing to get around the table to discuss a potential move to Parkhead either on a permanent basis or an initial short term loan.
So Klopp’s decision to name him among Liverpool’s substitutes at the Vitality Stadium came as an unwelcome inconvenience in the first place. And that was compounded when Beck was told to get stripped for action even though – by doing so – he was slamming the door shut on a return to the top end of the Scottish game following a highly impressive six months at Dundee earlier this season.
Beck has been left with two options. He can either remain on Merseyside, twiddling his thumbs as Klopp’s fourth choice left back behind the returning Andy Robertson and Konstantinos Tsimikas as well as Joe Gomez who has been holding the fort admirably during their absence. Or he can ask to be allowed to return to Dundee where, at least, he can continue to impress Rodgers on his own doorstep between now and the end of the current season.
But, having played for two clubs already in the same campaign, the chance of moving to Celtic any sooner than this summer has been taken off the table. And, even though Rodgers declined the invitation to comment on this plot twist having been unexpectedly placed on the spot, this development will doubtless have come as a sore one for a manager who is in a hurry to bring in some ‘quality’ reinforcements for the run in towards May.
If, as seems the case, Beck was his first choice to offer up some competition to – or even just cover for – first choice Greg Taylor then Rodgers has now been forced to go back to the drawing board in the final remaining few days of the market. Celtic would not be doing their recruitment business properly if they hadn’t already pre-prepared a list of suitable alternatives for the manager but that’s not really the point for a manager who has made no secret of his desire to bring in players who he deems oven ready to step straight into his first XI.
Not if it means having to compromise by settling for the second, third or fourth choice on the list. And yet Rodgers did warn of exactly this scenario at the start of this month, following a three goal routing of St Mirren in Paisley on January 2.
“Ideally you’d want to get them in early,” Rodgers conceded when asked about his hopes for the following four weeks. He went on: “Deals can be complicated and things that might have been almost there for three or four months can fall away. That’s always the challenge – it only takes one injury to change the situation with a player who was lined up to come in.
“I remember when I was here the first time, we spent about three months looking for Declan Rice to come in. Declan was all set to come in and then all of a sudden they had an injury, he stayed and got in the team and the rest is history.”
Around about the same time, Celtic spent more than £3m on Eboue Kouassi. Rice is now a £105m stalwart for Arsenal and England. Kouassi is playing for Portuguese minnows FC Arouca in front of home crowds of under 5,000 – having made just 22 appearances for Celtic over his two and half years in Glasgow. Rodgers knows the transfer market is rammed full of such sliding doors moments.
It will be his intention over the coming week to avoid ending up on the wrong end of another one. When he returned to the club in the summer he identified a raft of positions which he felt required strengthening. Having taken little time at all to have misgivings over Alexandro Bernabei’s reliability as Taylor’s understudy, a left back was one of them.It’s not unreasonable to assume he had an eye on a solid centre back, a central midfield man, a winger who could be considered as a regular starter and a centre forward capable of competing with Kyogo Furuhashi. Celtic signed two central defenders in Gustaf Lagerbielke and Maik Nawroki. After spending three months effectively in Siberia, Nawrocki has recently played his way into the manager’s plans. Lagerbielke didn’t even make the bench against Buckie Thistle.
In midfield, albeit after a slow start, Paulo Bernardo is emerging as a player worthy of the manager’s trust. And Rodgers will be banking on German wide man Nicolas Kuhn nailing down a position on Celtic’s right wing following his recent big money arrival from Rapid Vienna.
All of which means he’s still a striker light, in need of reinforcements at left-back and perhaps looking to beef up his options at the centre of defence before the window closes for business. Yes, time is of the essence. But, even so, Rodgers will not be spooked into rushing signings through the door just for the sake of it.
On the contrary, experience dictates he will keep his head when all round people are losing theirs. But, equally, that does not mean he’ll be satisfied should he feel he has been left ill equipped for what lies ahead in the second half of the season.These next nine days then, should make for a fascinating watch. Rodgers might be patient enough not to panic. But the clock is ticking nonetheless.
Be the first to comment