Celtic are looking for another keeper. Step up Dimitar Mitov – good enough for St. Pauli, but not good enough for us?
I've long been an advocate of Dimitar Mitov as a decent goalkeeper, which makes you wonder why Celtic have never considered him?
Eric Knott Well, another goalkeeper story.
Only this time we’re not in it.
The Daily Record tell us this morning that St Pauli have made their move for Dimitar Mitov.
A six figure bid, plus add-ons, on the table at Pittodrie.
They’re confident of getting it done quickly.
They want him on a plane within 24 hours.
They want it wrapped up before they play Holstein Kiel on Friday night.
Read that back, because it’s the bit that matters.
A German second tier club has identified a goalkeeper, bid for the goalkeeper, and set itself a deadline of Friday.
Meanwhile, we spent last week getting laughed at in a Spanish newspaper by a club from Spain’s second tier.
You remember that one, don’t you?
I wrote about it here.
Dinko Horkas of Las Palmas, a Segunda Division side, the second tier of Spanish football.
Four million, paid over four years, and their president went to the press to tell everyone our money wasn’t attractive.
Then our ‘sources’ briefed the SMSM that we were never that interested anyway.
Prioritising other positions, apparently.
So let me get this straight.
We were interested enough in a goalkeeper to put a bid in writing in front of a Spanish president.
But we were never really interested in a goalkeeper at all.
Both of those things cannot be true.
Which one is it??
The first one is true, and the second one is Operation Arse Covering, right on schedule.
We are in the market for a keeper.
We have been in the market for a keeper since Kasper Schmeichel hung them up.
Viljami Sinisalo is the number one, Ross Doohan is the cover, and that is the entire department for a season that includes European football.
And all the while, the goalkeeper we should have gone in for has been sitting 150 miles up the A90.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
Dimitar Mitov is a good goalkeeper.
I’ve said it on here more than once, and every time I’ve said it somebody has told me he’s ‘just an Aberdeen keeper’.
Just an Aberdeen keeper.
The man who stood there in the 2025 Scottish Cup final shootout and ended a 35 year wait for that club.
The man who has played European group stage football.
A full Bulgarian international who is his country’s number one.
Twenty nine years old, which in goalkeeping terms is barely out of nappies.
In the final year of his contract, with Aberdeen already bracing themselves for his exit.
They went and signed Marius Muller from Wolfsburg knowing fine well he’d be replacing Mitov, and Stephen Robinson has said as much out loud.
Muller has started every single game this season.
So the lad is available, he wants a new challenge, his club have already moved on, and the fee is a six figure sum.
Six figures.
Not five million and fifty per cent of a sell-on.
Not four million in yearly instalments like a three piece suite off the telly.
Six figures, for a goalkeeper who has done it in this league, in Europe, and in a cup final shootout with a trophy on the end of it.
If Dimitar Mitov is good enough for the German second tier, then he is good enough for Celtic Football Club.
That’s the whole argument.
That’s it.
There is no clever counterpoint here, and I’d love somebody to try me on it.
We chased a keeper from the second tier in Spain and got knocked back.
We are apparently not chasing a keeper headed for the second tier in Germany because he plays for Aberdeen, and that makes him beneath us.
Record Sport told us last week that Germany, Denmark, Austria and Cyprus were all sniffing around him.
Germany, Denmark, Austria and Cyprus.
Not Glasgow.
Never Glasgow.
Because Silent Mike doesn’t scout, he waits for an agent to phone him, and then he suffers one of his Agentophobia episodes and puts the receiver back down.
I shit you not.
Look at the difference in how the two clubs go about it, because that’s where the shame is.
St Pauli want promotion to the Bundesliga, so they picked a keeper to fight it out with Ben Voll for the number one shirt.
They made a bid, they set a deadline, they booked the flight.
Celtic want a keeper, so we made an offer we knew would be rejected, got mocked for it in print, and then told our media partners we hadn’t really made it.
One club is trying to get promoted.
The other is the reigning champion of Scotland with cash reserves that would make half of England weep.
Guess which one moves like a football club and which one moves like a solicitor’s office on a bank holiday?
Give credit where credit is due – if Nicholson picks up the phone today, matches the six figures and gets Mitov signed before Friday, I’ll be first in the queue to say fair play.
But we all know how this ends, don’t we?
Mitov will be photographed in a brown and white scarf at the Millerntor by the weekend.
We’ll be told the club is ‘monitoring the situation’ with three or four keepers nobody has ever heard of.
And in three weeks’ time we’ll be paying over the odds for somebody’s third choice on deadline day.
Same routine, different keeper.
It really is getting wearing now…
Key Takeaways
- St Pauli has placed a six-figure bid for Dimitar Mitov, aiming to secure him quickly before their match.
- Celtic pursued Dinko Horkas but faced criticism after their offer was deemed unattractive by Las Palmas.
- Mitov is a skilled goalkeeper, currently available and in the final year of his contract with Aberdeen.
- Celtic’s lack of action on Mitov contrasts with St Pauli’s proactive approach in the transfer market.
- The ongoing situation raises concerns about Celtic’s scouting and transfer strategy, possibly leading to late, expensive signings.
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Have to agree. We should have signed him years ago from St. Johnstone. Now more experienced and a more than sufficient back-up and cheap too. Whilst on the subject of back-ups, I’m at a loss why we’re not looking at Longelo at Motherwell. Big, athletic, and knows his way to the goal too. Imo a guy who would likely challenge Kieran rather than letting him be assured of a start every week and at worst would be an ample back up when Kieran needs rested.
When was the last time Celtic signed a decent keeper from a Scottish club, while I agree that Mitov would have been a good goalkeeper for Celtic and he is not Scottish, the last time Celtic signed a good successful keeper from a Scottish club was Ally Hunter from Kilmarnock way back in the 1970’s.