Buy cheap, sell big – then buy back again on the cheap. It’s worked wonders for Celtic and it could strike again!
There’s no denying Celtic’s financial model has worked a treat in recent years.
The Parkhead masterplan of buying cheap, winning stuff then selling for big profits has resulted in piles of dosh being stuffed into the club’s coffers. But Celtic’s new transfer strategy is another level of genius.
It used to be buy cheap, sell big at Parkhead. Now it’s buy cheap, sell big – then buy back again on the cheap.
Fair play. Jota being punted for £25m then brought back for washers just 18 months later was a smart move.
Landing Kieran Tierney on a pre-contract for nowt when he left for similar dough a few years back is another incredible bit of business. There’s no need to stop now. Celtic should charge on and try to get Kyogo Furuhashi back for buttons.
It might sound daft given the Japanese striker only left the club a couple of months ago. But it actually makes perfect sense.
Kyogo’s move to Rennes hasn’t worked out. The gaffer who signed him got his books about three hours after the ink dried on the frontman’s contract and the new guy at the helm doesn’t fancy him. The word in France is Kyogo is down to about fourth or fifth-choice striker. And Rennes are going to be spending big on another couple of attackers in the summer.
So much for Kyogo’s big idea that going there would boost his Japan hopes.
His country has just become the first nation on the planet to qualify for next summer’s World Cup. But the only chance Kyogo has of being in North America is as a punter.
Meanwhile his old Celtic pals Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate are pretty much bankers to be on the plane. It makes sense for him to write off the whole French connection as a silly misunderstanding.
A short detour to check out the grass – only to find it’s not greener over there.
You’ve got to think he’d be welcomed back by Celtic fans. A fair few seemed happy enough to see him go, mind you.
They felt his powers were on the wane a tad and maybe the time was right to part company – especially with £10m coming in the other way.
That was a strange take on a striker who had scored a barrel load of goals for the club and still looked more than capable of finding the net for them on a regular basis.
Sure, he might not have been as prolific this season as he had been before but he’s hardly ready for the knackers’ yard. And what if Celtic could land him for about £3m?
Where the heck are they going to find a proven performer like him – who can all but guarantee 15 to 20 goals per season – for that kind of money?
Hit the back of the net a few times and the punters would be back on board. Just ask Brendan Rodgers what it’s like to come back.
OK, there is a nagging sense the manager wasn’t entirely sold on him either, or Kyogo didn’t quite fit into the system the manager likes to play. But absence sometimes makes the heart grow fonder.
Kyogo was a major miss against Rangers last weekend. Flip it around. Would the Gers squad have been happy he was no longer around, having struggled to contain him over the years? Absolutely.
Celtic have managed to get through the period since his departure relatively unscathed but that doesn’t mean his absence hasn’t been noticeable.
Rodgers has high hopes for Adam Idah but the fact he has played Maeda through the middle suggests he’s not ready to hang his hat on the Irishman as his main striker.
It has left Maeda being flogged to bits as frontman for an hour then a winger. People joke about his insane fitness levels and workmate but eventually he might hit a wall.
Getting Kyogo back would ease the burden and take pressure off Idah as he continues to develop. And returning to Celtic with a new appreciation of his surroundings could be the kick start he needs – for club and country.
Of course he can get in the Japan squad playing in Scotland. It’s daft to suggest otherwise, especially at a club playing in the Champions League.
It was mentioned elsewhere by Canada boss Jesse Marsch, suggesting Alistair Johnston might want to continue his development at a so-called bigger league. Aye, very good.
It wasn’t so long ago that big Jesse was batting his eyelids at Celtic before Ange Postecoglou got the gig. And the American might have timed his comments better given his man had a stinker against Rangers at Parkhead a few days earlier.
Johnston has been an outstanding signing and will recover from a rare off day to continue to be a vital player for the club, perhaps even a future captain.
Marsch can keep his tuppence to himself over that one while the penny might drop for Kyogo that his ticket to the USA next year might be waiting for him back in Glasgow.
