Celtic’s transfer model is elite at selling and hopeless at replacing
Celtic rank among Europe's best at adding value to players, yet every big sale is followed by cut-price signings. Where are the profits actually going?
Eric Knott 
Celtic’s transfer model is being lauded in the media today as one of the best in Europe.
Of course it is.
According to the Daily Record, the CIES Football Observatory has examined which clubs are best at adding value to their players over the last five years.
Here is how they got to the headline figure:
The CIES report rates Celtic with a plus £85m for players already transferred in that time period, and plus £88m for the value of those still under contract, leading to a combined transfer appreciation of £174m.
That puts us ahead of Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Milan.
It also puts us well clear of the Ibrox side, who only manage £81m.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you the figures are wrong.
They’re not.
Celtic are brilliant at selling players.
Celtic might be the most efficient club in Europe at selling players, but we’re one of the worst when it comes to buying them
Make no mistake, that’s the part the headline writers skip.
Odsonne Edouard.
Kristoffer Ajer.
Matt O’Riley.
Jota.
Nicolas Kuhn.
Arne Engels, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda.
Every one of them was a genuine asset, and every one of them was cashed in.
The report gives the board a pat on the back for the selling, but it says absolutely nothing about what happened next.
Because what happened next, time and time again, is that we replaced them with something cheaper and hoped nobody would notice.
And we did notice.
We are renowned by clubs and agents as a nightmare to deal with, and the lowball offers are the reason why
This isn’t just me being a miserable bastard on a Thursday evening.
Ask around and you’ll hear exactly the same thing.
Clubs don’t enjoy dealing with Celtic, and agents enjoy it even less.
We consistently put in offers that sit way below the player’s valuation, then act surprised when the selling club tells us where to go.
Then we wait.
And wait.
And by the time the deadline comes around, we take whatever is left on the shelf.
That’s not a transfer model.
That’s a bargain bin with a badge on it.
End of.
Last summer we spent £31.6m on Camilo Duran, Kasper Hogh, Mika Baur, Haissem Hassan, Joel van den Berg and Jordan Lotomba.
And that was offset by the money brought in for Engels, Hatate and Maeda.
So the books balanced nicely, and the squad got WEAKER.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
No doubt the online board stooges will be wetting themselves at today’s news
I can already see them.
The usual crowd, dusting off the same old line about how Celtic are the best run club in Europe.
Look at the ranking, they’ll say.
Look at the profit.
Then again, I’d love to know what profit does for you at the Estadio da Luz, or for them personally for that matter.
Because tonight, in Lisbon, we find out exactly how good our current squad is.
And I’m not hopeful.
It is woefully inadequate for a Europa League night against a side of Benfica’s pedigree, and no CIES spreadsheet is going to change that.
If it’s cruelly exposed, don’t expect to hear a single word from the board about the squad they built.
You’ll hear about the financial model instead.
Where exactly are the vast profits being reflected in our facilities and our stadium?
This is the question that gets me.
If the transfer model is as good as they say, and I accept the figures, then where is all of that money going?
It isn’t going into the squad.
We’ve just established that.
It certainly isn’t going into the stadium, which looks and feels like it did long before most of those sales were made.
And it isn’t going into the training facilities since the new facility at Barrowfield was completed either, or anything else the support can actually see or touch.
So the profit is made, the profit is banked, and nobody can tell us what it’s for.
Silent Mike certainly isn’t offering an explanation.
Neither is the absent meddling golfer.
Stories like this paint over the cracks of the reality at our club right now
The majority of the Celtic fanbase are heartily sick of the current board and Dermot Desmond.
That’s not a fringe opinion anymore.
It’s the mood around Celtic Park, and it’s the mood on every away trip.
A glossy ranking from a football research body does nothing to change that, no matter how many times it gets shared on social media by the happy clappers.
It’s a coat of paint on a wall that has damp coming through.
We don’t want to be the best club in Europe at selling players.
We want to be a club that keeps its best ones, replaces the rest properly, and gives the support something to believe in on a night like tonight.
Is that really too much to ask?
Apparently it is…
Sack the board!
Key Takeaways
- Celtic’s transfer model is praised, yet they are known for poor buying practices.
- Despite selling players for high fees, Celtic fails to adequately replace them, leading to a weaker squad.
- Clubs and agents find Celtic difficult to negotiate with due to lowball offers and poor timing.
- Fans express frustration over the board’s financial decisions and lack of investment in facilities.
- Many supporters want Celtic to retain key players and improve the squad instead of merely focusing on profit.
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Its not even the fact that a cheaper replacement comes in. I wouldn’t expect a 25m player to be replaced by a 25m player. But at least a 10-12m valuation of a player. Or at least 2 players for 8-10m still leaves us with profit and makes us stronger. The worst thing is we have no plan and no structure. The timing is always wrong. Sell before a CL qualifier and replace after we get fucked out. The sale and replacement should both be done immediately. The players should be on board before pre season training even starts
Good exposure of them but they’re still fu**in there…
Their fiscal ‘policy’ will come to the fore tonight me thinks !