Celtic board told they need January transfer magic trick after rumour over Birmingham City raid
Celtic have been linked with a move for a Birmingham City star this January transfer window.
Celtic’s board have been told they need a rabbit out a hat this January transfer window after rumours over a Birmingham City star.
The current Premiership champions have been lamented this season for poor summer recruitment and as title rivals Hearts and Rangers make winter moves, only right-back Julian Araujo has arrived on loan from Bournemouth. Stephen Welsh has been recalled from his loan at Motherwell to cover in defence and fans are desperate for new blood to give boss Martin O’Neill the best chance of title success.
Kyogo Furuhashi was linked with a stunning loan return from Birmingham City, a year on from the striker leaving Parkhead for Rennes, but the chances of that are now slim. Prominent Scottish football pundit, Michael Stewart, reckons there was likely something in the rumours and going back to an old ally shows him that the Celtic board have to get their recruitment act together.
Kyogo to Celtic transfer rumour assessed
The former Hearts and Hibs midfielder told Premier Sports ahead of Celtic’s midweek clash in the league against Falkirk: “We know how this world works. The rumours about Kyogo, there’s no smoke without fire there. There are no other rumours at the moment.
“So the Celtic board better hope that they’re able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Otherwise, oh my word. Forget about just bringing somebody in. They’ve got to come in and actually have an impact. Because if they bring someone in and they don’t, like Shin Yamada who came in in the summer, he’s not done anything.
“If they do something like this, it’s only going to fuel the fire of even more discontent amongst the support of what’s the recruitment team doing? What’s the board doing?
Will Celtic make January transfer moves
“I’ve got serious concerns for Celtic in regards to what have they actually done over the last four months since the last window to line up and get things in place. Now Paul Tisdale’s gone, Wilfried Nancy’s gone. Now, you’re telling me that they’re literally having to start from scratch.
“And if that’s the case, who’s making those decisions? How quickly are they going to get things into place? It’s a serious concern, because as good as Martin O’Neill and his coaching staff are top class. And there was a real despondency amongst all the people connected with Celtic because of the lack of transfer activity. They need to pull a rabbit out of the hat here otherwise it could derail everything for them.”
O’Neill said of moving for Kyogo this month: “I would have said that would probably be unlikely. I think that it would be unlikely. Everything is premature. I think there is a viewpoint that he wants to really prove himself at Birmingham which is no surprise. “We’re doing plenty of work on it, seriously. That is a big generalisation. We are doing that there, and hopefully trying to get a few players in. There’s a lot of work going on at the moment. I think that we are well aware that we have to supplement the squad.”