Today we have got the news that Matt O’Riley has signed a 4 year deal, this a matter of weeks after Celtic turned down a hefty £10 million for the likable Dane.
Hopefully Matt will find himself selected for Denmark in the coming international window and his value will rise yet more.
This is on the back of yesterday’s news that Hatate had signed on for another 5 years, a contract the doomsayers would swear blind was never going to happen.
It appears Reo played the long game with his contract, turning down the first only to say it was his wage which was the issue, we bumped up our offer and probably threw another year on it for good measure, great business all round.
We have heard that Abada wanted away basically for the last 15 months, then we saw him put pen to paper on a 4 year deal which will see him grow into a Celtic shirt as this young man comes of age.
We saw McGregor pledge his future to the club to become a one club man and also one who could break all the records for trophies by an individual player.
Kyogo signing on for 4 years was the best news of all and with all the comparisons to Larsson he will now have the opportunity to try and get near his record of 242 goals, he will be here the same time if like Henke we refuse to sell.
Maeda got the ball rolling and signed on for 4 years meaning we have our midfield from Angeball signed up to long term contracts obviously without Jota.
The backline looks stronger with Nawrocki, Lagerbielke and the emergence of Scales adding strings to our bow, AJ is back and the club has shown faith in Ralston and Welsh, CCV is on the way back and Taylor had his best game of the season last week.
New Bhoys like Palma, Holm, Tilio, Yang and Kwon will get their shot as will loan signing Bernardo, we must have patience with these players.
Where we really need to improve Celtic to get us to the strength we need is in 3 places for mine, a back up striker in the mould of Giakoumakis, a different kind of striker than Kyogo and more prolific than Oh.
Secondly we need a Left Back who can walk into the team, a signing in the £4-7 million bracket, a player who Taylor, Bernabei and even Scales will see as an improvement let alone the fans.
Lastly is the position of Goalkeeper, we will have Joe Hart and his understudy Bain between the sticks this season, but Joe isn’t the answer going forward, we will need to buy and buy quality.
I expect a new keeper in the summer window, a Left back and a back up striker in January, Brendan said he didn’t get all his business done last window but he has played it very well with the contract extensions, locking down the family silver.
If any club wants any of our stars they will need to deal on our terms.
Brendan is on a 3 year contract and the spine of the team is here for longer than that, this current squad is poised to create something special, we have to be patient, let the gaffer do his shopping and then build a dynasty that will take us back to where we belong in Europe and become uncatchable domestically.
