Lennon must make moves to guarantee title number 10
TOTTENHAM Hotspur famously reached the Champions League final two seasons ago despite not spending any money on new players in either the summer or January transfer windows.
Having Hugo Loris, Toby Alderweireld, Christian Erikson, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane, to name just a handful, at his disposal kind of negated the need for Mauricio Pochettino to venture into the transfer market that term.
The construction of a new stadium and simmering tensions between chairman Daniel Levy and Pochettino also played a part.
Nevertheless, it was still remarkable that a club in the cash-rich Premier League didn’t part with a single penny during the 2018/19 campaign.
In stark contrast, Liverpool, who defeated Spurs in a disappointing final in Madrid, lavished £163.98million on new recruits. Even Brighton splashed out a cool £77.63m to ensure they retained their top-flight status.
It showed that a club can achieve success – and they defeated Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester
City and Ajax during their memorable run in Europe – without splurging small fortunes on fresh faces if they already possess the necessary quality and strength in depth.
Neil Lennon, whose Celtic side will get their bid to make history and win a 10th consecutive Scottish title underway on Sunday when they host Hamilton at Parkhead, currently has both.
He has cover and competition in most positions on the park and should be able to cope with both injuries and suspensions when they inevitably arise during the course of what promises to be a long and arduous season.
If Ryan Christie picks up a knock, Tom Rogic can take over from him in the playmaker role. If Greg Taylor is unavailable, Boli Bolingoli could come in. Should Scott Brown or Callum McGregor get banned, Nir Bitton and Olivier Ntcham are more than adequate replacements.
But elsewhere, at goalkeeper and centre-half in particular, Lennon could have issues if he loses his first-choice player.
He requires to strengthen despite having resources which are the envy of his counterparts, including Steven Gerrard at Rangers, across the country to ensure his charges once again dominate the Premiership and are able to complete what will be an unprecedented feat.
AEK Athens goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas should, if glowing reports from his native Greece are proved correct, vie with Scott Bain for a start if and when he arrives in Glasgow and go some way towards atoning for the losses of Fraser Forster and Craig Gordon. Peterborough striker Ivan Toney is more experienced than Patryk Klimala and Vakoun Bayo and would add considerably to their firepower.
But what happens if Kristoffer Ajer or Christopher Jullien are ruled out? Bitton and Hatem Elhamed could certainly deputise. But the Israeli duo are better, and more comfortable, deployed elsewhere on the pitch.
Jozo Simunovic, who departed when his contract expired back in May, hasn’t been replaced. Doing so must be a priority for head of football operations Nick Hammond and his recruitment team going forward.
Their work to date has, of course, been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak in March and subsequent football shutdown. It would have been crass if the treble treble winners had rushed out and made multi-million pound signings at a time when employees were being furloughed and their players, management team and senior staff were accepting sizeable pay cuts.
Those clubs which have slashed salaries, made people redundant and axed their academies have, rightly in some instances, attracted criticism for doing exactly that.
It would, regardless of the momentous achievement which lies tantalisingly within their grasp, have been irresponsible of Celtic, even with their healthy bank balance, to splash out amid an uncertain economic climate and with months of continued upheaval lying ahead.
THIS is a unique window due to Covid-19. It won’t close until the end of October so there is plenty of time to draft in reinforcements. It has been, too, prudent of them to see what happens in the marketplace across the continent in the new world we are inhabiting before entering it.
Now that season tickets have been sold and the situation has stabilised to a degree – clubs at least now know where, when and how they will be playing – they are able to loosen the purse strings.
But Lennon has only secured the services of Mohammed Elyounoussi on loan to date. He had a superior side and squad last season and still does. Still, he needs to prepare for every eventuality and ensure there is no calamitous collapse.
Whether Scott Brown can perform at the same high level at home and abroad has been asked at the start of the season for the past four or five years. He has repeatedly proved his doubters wrong. But he turned 35 last month and won’t continue forever. If he is out for any prolonged period of time, it will ask serious questions of his team-mates.
Bitton, McGregor and Ntcham will do a job. But returning for David Turnbull of Motherwell and getting Barkas and Toney over the line could safeguard Celtic’s short and long-term future.
Celtic need to prepare for every eventuality