CELTS SWOOP FOR BUDDIES STARLET
Morgan to clinch Celts move
BCELTIC were last night close to completing a deal which would see St S Mirren’s talented midfielder f Lewis Morgan join the t Scottish champions. SportTimes understands that the transfer should be sealed over the next few days but the 21-year-old will stay with the Paisley side until the end of this season.
A fee of around £300,000 plus add-ons has all-but secured the signing of one Scotland’s best young
THOSE who have learned to l ove Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic style might have been rather intrigued by Chris Davies’ admission yesterday that the cornerstone of the Northern Irishman’s footballing philosophy is the defence.
There was little evidence of this, the sceptics would say, as the club’s imperious 69-match unbeaten run came to a juddering halt at Tynecastle on Sunday, when a combination of individual errors, Hearts’ high-energy play and a tight, uneven pitch exposed what could be called the club’s idealistic approach to building the play.
Nor, they might add, was it a major feature of a Champions League campaign where attack often seemed to be their clearest form of defence, including the odd heavy beating or two by virtue of their resolute refusal to park the bus against even the most formidable forward lines in football.
A deeper dive into the statistics proves inconclusive also. While Celtic conceded 25 goals last season, comfortably the fewest in the league – and six less than Ronny Deila’s team the season before – go a little bit further back and Rodgers’ Liverpool went from conceding just 43 goals in 2012-13 (the same as champions Manchester United) to 50 in 2013-14, the year they went so close to the title. This, bizarrely, was one more than Crystal Palace, back in 11th.
But there was no reason to disbelieve the Celtic assistant manager yesterday, not least as the club were last night finalising the signing of what could be a crucial piece of that defensive jigsaw with Marvin Compper, a 32-year-old defender, with one international cap for Germany, from RB Leipzig.
While at pains to point out that nothing was done yet, Davies admitted the defender was in Glasgow yesterday for a medical and there is enough in his CV to suggest the estimated £1million it would take to secure his services is money worth spending.
When the deal is over the line, most likely today, he will add to a promising yet still rather unproven defensive corps which includes players such as Dedryck Boyata, the often injury-hit Jozo Simunovic and young Norwegian Kristoffer Ajer, but will be ineligible to feature in the last 32 Europa League against Zenit St Petersburg.
Compper has a larger and more extensive back catalogue than that. His one cap, for instance, came in September 2008, in a 2-1 defeat to England, at a time when Compper was tearing up the Bundesliga with newly-promoted Hoffenheim to the extent that they were crowned unofficial “Autumn champions” with 35 points from their first 17 matches, on their way to an eventual seventh placed finish.
LATER in his career, something similar would transpire with Leipzig, the mega-rich German side who he helped become Bundesliga challengers.
Perhaps what Davies means is that the attacking impulses of his team mean that they expect more from their defenders than most normal teams.
“From what I’ve seen, he is a guy who fits the profile of what we would like in a central defender,” he said. “He is used to playing a high defensive line, he is technically good on the ball, athletic and fast.
“He understands the model of play we like. But again, we will see if it does go through.
“Bringing someone in with pedigree is always interesting and it happens it will improve us a team. If it happens then it’s someone who’s experienced. You need a balance in your squad rather than too much either way.
“You saw the benefits of having Kolo Toure last season, with the experience he has. We’ve got guys like Craig Gordon, Broony, our captain, guys with experience. So it’s not something we are lacking but it’s good to have that balance.
“I’ve worked with the manager for a long time and his philosophy always starts with the defence. It’s the foundation of how we play.
“The first thing we spoke about when we came to Celtic was defending and to get that base right and then build the attacking play that’s got us a lot
of recognition. In order to attack successfully, you need that base in order. That’s been our focus.”
Defence (and goalkeeper) may have been the focus for much of the post-match criticism at Tynecastle on Sunday but Celtic weren’t exactly their usual selves when it came to posing an attacking threat either. It remains to be seen whether Partick Thistle will bear the brunt tonight. “We’re talking to him [Compper] and he’s obviously arrived the country,” said Davies. “But our recruitment has looked at all areas of the pitch. That area of the pitch has been highlighted and we want to support those guys. But it wasn’t just an isolated area, we could have been better all over the pitch.
“We’re together when we win and we are together when we suffer a setback. That’s the culture we have and the manager gets everyone together in these moments.”