Celtic recently signed Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, an underage central defender from Man. City until the end of this season. It appears that Simpson-Pusey is a great defender and that this is a very effective signing for the central defence.
While this is a “statement” signing, my thoughts turn to the young players in the Academy such as Dane Murray, Colby Donovan and Mitchell Frame. I think that these players are ready to take their rightful place in the first team and I think that there is huge frustration at the position in which they find themselves. They get a chance to play in some meaningless friendly (Murray played in the League Cup v Falkirk), they impress but instead of progressing on to the first team they discover that Celtic have signed yet another defender. This is unsatisfactory from their perspective.
The Celtic Academy has lost a huge amount of graduate players in recent times [Cummings, Anderson, Kelly etc] as a result of the fact that a clear pathway to the first team has not been provided to them. This is not right. There is little point in having an academy in the first place in circumstances where Celtic are unwilling to provide opportunities to those who are good enough to take their place in the first team.
Clearly, Dane Murray is good enough to take his place in the back line. Similarly, Mitchell Frame is good enough to act as Kieran Tierney’s understudy. However, from what I’m reading on the internet BR is still looking out for another left back when there is absolutely no need for one.
In any event, it now seems that the back line is more than adequate for the work ahead with Johnston and Ralston on the right, your choice of CCV, Simpson-Pusey, Scales, Trusty, Dane Murray etc. In the centre and Tierney, Inamura and Frame on the left.
As it happens, the need is greater in other areas of the pitch. Take midfield for example, where we have Engels, Hatete, Cal-Mac and now Nygren [a very capable player by all accounts]. However, amongst that group there is lacking a kind of enforcer such as Neil Lennon or Vic Wanyama, a player who breaks up opposition possession. If there is no such player available in the Academy, Celtic should go out and sign one without delay.
This is a lot more important than the back line or even the signing of a new winger, as Frank McAvennie has correctly pointed out. This shortfall has been identified by McAvennie and he is on the money. This urgently needs to be attended to as soon as possible.
Not withstanding what I have stated above, it is also clear that resources on the wing are being stretched following the departure of Kuhn to Como. Tilio does not appeal to BR and he will be on his way shortly. That leaves just Forrest and Yang on the right. To be honest I am not unduly worried as long as nobody gets injured. Yang is improving as a player all the time and Forrest is still only 33, meaning that he still has a year or two left at the highest level. In addition, it appears that Jota will return in the new year. Having said all that, if Celtic can sign a winger on a short term loan it would probably amount to good business.
I now turn to the lone striker position. Here we have Idah, Kenny, Yamada and Osmond. I think it’s probably fair to say that nobody in this quartet is going to unduly frighten PSG or Real Madrid. I know little or nothing about Yamada or Osmond but I am praying that they are better than I think they are.
As regards Idah, he lacks consistency in his game. It is clear that Celtic were tricked into paying over the odds for this player. Norwich City knew that Celtic wanted to sign Idah and that Idah himself wanted a move to Celtic Park and they held out for the full asking price of almost €10M, which I believe is more that twice his real valuation.
Kenny is a good centre forward but is probably not quite at the standard that would trouble top continental defences. In this context, I think that Celtic should allow some of these players to go out on loan and sign a new centre forward.
Time will tell!
Tim Molloy is a life-long Celtic supporter, an Irish language enthusiast and a law graduate of London University
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