A Club The Size Of Celtic – Former Top Flight Star Lays Into Bhoys Over Transfer Window | OneFootball

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Former Hibernian attacker Tam McManus insisted that a club with Celtic’s spending power should not be scrambling on transfer deadline day to sign a striker.

Going into the summer, signing a striker was at the top of Celtic’s priority list, but that had to wait until the day after deadline day, as they signed Kelechi Iheanacho as a free agent.

The Bhoys were linked with several strikers in the ongoing window, with Lorient’s Sambou Soumano on their list but the French outfit decided against selling him.

Kasper Dolberg was Celtic’s top target though and the Bhoys were actively trying to sell him on deadline day.

The negotiations between Celtic and Anderlecht dragged on, where the Bhoys refused to meet the Danish striker’s price tag in the hope of signing him for less but their decision backfired.

Ajax entered that race and stole the show with quick negotiations with Anderlecht and secured the signing of Dolberg, while Celtic were forced to sign Iheanacho on a free transfer.

McManus pointed out that Celtic, with £60m to £70m, should not be the team scrambling on deadline day for a striker, as he insisted that they had an ample amount of time to get a deal over the line, but they left it too late.

He admits that Celtic did work on the Iheanacho deal in the background by convincing his agent to make Sevilla agree on a termination, but criticised the Bhoys’ way of handling their striker hunt.

“A club the size of Celtic, with £60m to £70m in the bank, cannot be scrambling about at quarter to eleven on deadline day looking for a striker”, McManus said on PLZ Soccer (9:00).

“They have obviously said to Iheanacho’s agent, ‘Listen, get him released, get him to see if you can settle his contract with Sevilla and we can sign him outside the window.’

“They obviously had that on the back burner, but you cannot be scrambling about; you have got six, seven, eight weeks.

“You have got the whole summer to try and get players in, and you are leaving it to the last minute.”

Celtic’s transfer business in the window has failed to impress a section of their fans and it remains to be seen how Brendan Rodgers feels about the way that it was conducted.

The Bhoys will now have to wait until January if they want to make further signings of players who are not free agents.