Roberts revelry can’t hide a sense of regret
IT started with all that overcooked hoopla over Patrick Roberts coming back. Of course, it is lovely for Celtic that Roberts has returned to the club. The teasers on social media and that PR7 logo, confirming his unrivalled position as the Cristiano Ronaldo of The Calton, were perfectly amusing, too.
Flagging up a teatime presentation at Parkhead and pushing him out of the front door to be swarmed upon by the flotsam and jetsam did seem a step too far, though.
This whole thing of beckoning a mix of the underemployed, the fanatical and the plain disquieting to the front steps is OK for major events. Fergus McCann seizing control of the club, for example. Robbie Keane turning up just before midnight on deadline night. Brendan Rodgers confirming Dermot Desmond has suddenly become interested again.
But all that fuss over a bloke who had already been with the club for 18 months and had just signed
another loan deal? It carried the unmistakeable whiff of trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes in the absence of anything more interesting. Rodgers’ unprompted statement on the club website on Friday evening, branding the events of the transfer window simply wonderful, just confirmed it.
The summer has hardly been a disaster for Celtic. Far from it.
Roberts is an extremely talented footballer. Likewise, Olivier Ntcham — the fifth arrival from Manchester City in three years — could prove a good investment at the not-inconsiderable sum of £4.5million.
Is this really all that Celtic’s supporters expected the window to bring, though?
Ntcham is now one of nine central midfielders in the squad. There are plenty of wide players, too. Jonny Hayes was another brought through the doors in June.
Rodgers claimed he didn’t need a third striker. Roberts’ arrival was seen as something to plug the gap should anything happen to Leigh Griffiths before Moussa Dembele is fit again.
Then, lo and behold, Odsonne Edouard pitched up. He is 19. He has never played for his parent club Paris Saint-Germain.
He did spend last season on loan at Toulouse, scoring once while making a handful of starts out of 17 appearances. His loan ended abruptly when he fired an airgun at someone’s head.
He sounds a bit of an article, all right. Certainly not a finished one.
With £30m banked from the Champions League last season, another £30m on the way, most of the dead wood stripped out of the squad and Virgil van Dijk — now taking time off from Southampton after all the stress of refusing to turn up for work — likely to deliver another £7m by moving on sooner rather than later, it does not seem uncharitable to suggest the funds were there to put a little more balance into the menu. Like a centre-half, for starters. In nine days’ time, Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe will form the rump of the PSG attack in the opening game of Champions League Group B at Celtic Park.
With the SPFL Premiership sure to be another procession, these are the matches in which Celtic’s evolution will truly be judged this season.
Last term offered genuine flashes of encouragement. This year’s target must be greater consistency.
It was bad enough having Nir Bitton standing in at centre-half during the European qualifiers. If Dedryck Boyata and Erik Sviatchenko cannot make it back from injury in time and the Israeli is called upon again against PSG, that becomes an issue worthy of serious debate.
Yes, there was a £1m deal in place for Rivaldo Coetzee, scuppered by a failed medical. And Rodgers is correct in stating there is no sense in simply bringing in another player for the sake of it.
Celtic are in a tough place when it comes to the market. They are trying to increase their European profile with younger players available at the right price.
It is hard. Made harder when you see the likes of Jadon Sancho, a 17-year-old who has never played a first-team game for anyone, leaving Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund for £8m.
However, were there really no alternatives to Coetzee? No one on the radar that Rodgers or his head of recruitment Lee Congerton felt able to fit the profile?
Put simply, Celtic started the window eager to secure a centrehalf and failed. They went on to sign players in positions where there appeared to be perfectly adequate provision.
Celtic lost 16 goals in the six games of the Champions League group stage last season. They had a hell of a section, for sure, with Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach.
PSG and Bayern Munich are just as tough, if not tougher. Avoiding embarrassment against them would be a good starting point. However, the fanbase are optimistic of seeing their side rival Anderlecht for third place and Europa League football after Christmas.
It seems reasonable, but it is worth remembering the Belgians reached the last eight of the Europa League last term and ran eventual winners Manchester United right to the wire. They sold their star midfielder Youri Tielemans to Monaco and shipped Frank Acheampong to China, but the nucleus of that squad is still there.
Rodgers’ grand project, a resounding success so far, is set for a pretty merciless period of examination. His transfer window was a little strange. Hardly a shambles, but maybe not the unqualified success he describes.
The reality of it all will soon become clear. If ever there was an arena for exposing the truth, it is on the field amid the brutal, merciless brilliance of the Champions League.