GlasgowWorld dissect the latest transfer news surrounding both clubs
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00:00Hello and welcome to Glasgow World's first round-up of the January transfer
00:05window. We will be filming a weekly round-up of the latest deals that have
00:10taken place both in and out of Celtic and Rangers during the month of January.
00:16My colleague Declan alongside me this afternoon to discuss what has
00:21been a fairly slow start to the window, it's fair to say Declan, there hasn't
00:25been too much deals being done already at this stage but there's been
00:30rumours about potential incomings and quite exciting ones. We'll kick off
00:34with Celtic and first things first Kieran Tierney, a player that Celtic fans
00:40obviously a fan favourite during his time at the club and currently not in
00:46favour at Arsenal, he has been like that for some time since returning from
00:49injury and there's talk about this being very close to being done, it seems
00:55as well at this stage that he's knocked back other clubs in the Premier League
00:58to return to Celtic, what are your thoughts on that? Firstly thanks for having me Lewis,
01:03yeah it's been a slow start, I don't know, it feels all about weird just now
01:07because obviously Scottish football usually shuts down, there's a couple of
01:10weeks off in January but we're still in the midst of a very hectic fixture
01:14schedule so I don't know whether that's got anything to do with it.
01:18Kieran Tierney, I think everybody's talked about this in Scottish football just now,
01:21everybody knows him, obviously a cult hero or whatever you want to call him at Celtic, he made the
01:27club a very rich summer money, £25 million going to Arsenal which is
01:32incredibly, it'll be six years by the time the summer comes around which
01:37seems like a lifetime ago but 2019 he departed, he obviously knows Brendan
01:41Rodgers very very well, everybody would say although Ronald Ireland gave him the
01:45chance at Celtic, it was probably Brendan Rodgers who took his game to that next
01:50level, it's going to be interesting I think, it might not be a question of
01:55really at this point in time, I think Kieran Tierney is if and when it
02:00happens because in terms of the deal, I think pre-contracts have been
02:06mentioned, loans have been mentioned, it certainly doesn't look as if Arsenal's
02:09interested in renewing his contract in the summer which means he's going to be a
02:12free agent, do Celtic have the finances to pay a chunk of his Arsenal wages in
02:18January is probably a question, what kind of fee would Arsenal be looking for in
02:22January to let him go maybe out on loan or even come in earlier in that pre-contract, we don't know,
02:29certainly I think if you look at this, Celtic would not be able to attract a
02:33player of Tierney's quality or stature if there wasn't just that natural Celtic
02:39connection there, I know there's a lot of chat around his injury record but Celtic to be,
02:44you know, they've got somebody reliable in Greg Taylor at this point in time, obviously Alex Valle
02:47is in the door from Barcelona until the end of the season, I think they don't
02:52need Kieran Tierney to play 40-50 games a season, Celtic need Kieran Tierney for
02:56derby games, Champions League games, matches at Hamden if they get that far,
03:01certainly if Kieran Tierney comes back to Celtic, I don't think you're going to see him play
03:0640-50 games, they may only need him for 20-25.
03:10That might benefit his body as well because he has had a lot of injuries.
03:13Obviously he is settled here, if he comes back up the road, with his family and his friends and all that around him,
03:21you might just see him fit right in, just like the old KT.
03:25What do you feel like that might mean for Greg Taylor, because obviously we know Taylor's out of contract in the summer,
03:31fans were chanting Tierney's name in the weekend there in the 3-0 win against St Mirren,
03:38Brendan Rodgers obviously quite rightly saying that that shouldn't be the case at this moment in time,
03:43he's still an Arsenal player, Taylor has been a top servant to Celtic.
03:47Absolutely, very reliable, I think you only need to look at the fact that in the time Taylor's been here at Celtic,
03:53the club's signed Bolly Boll and Goalie for about 3 million quid,
03:57we obviously brought in Diego Laix in a loan deal I think from AC Milan,
04:02and then Alejandro Bernabe who came in for about 4 million quid as well,
04:06so a 3.75 bit of what it was, but nobody's been able to shift Greg Taylor,
04:11he's been there since 2019, he's been very reliable at the club,
04:14he took his game again to another level under Postacoglu,
04:17I'm certainly not going to forget how important he was in that system with the inverted full-backs,
04:23yeah, he might not be the standard left-back that Celtic fans are looking for that takes a ball and runs to the by-line,
04:28but he's been a great player for Celtic,
04:31and if the managers won't vote for him, as I say, just in Tierney,
04:35I think whoever's going to be that other left-back is still going to play a hell of a lot of games for Celtic.
04:39Interesting you touched on Bernabe, he is one player that seems to no longer have a future at the club,
04:45I think Brendan Rodgers made that perfectly clear some time ago,
04:48seems to me that he's very much likely to return to Internacional
04:53where he's been thriving out on loan since the summer,
04:57looks to me like they're very keen on a permanent deal and that one could be close to completion.
05:02Yeah, it's just not worked out for him has it,
05:04came in with quite a heavy price tag,
05:07you probably could say, in fact a lot of Celtic fans would have thought,
05:10profile-wise, I think Alejandro Bernabe was the first Argentinian to actually sign for Celtic,
05:15it's just not worked out.
05:18Certainly attacking-wise, looked at if he had it,
05:21but big questions over him defensively,
05:23whether it's just, certainly with Scottish football or whatever,
05:27it doesn't work out, but he's certainly been flying at Internacional
05:30and if you make Celtic a decent fee,
05:33it's, you know, call it quits,
05:36you've not really lost out or anything have you?
05:38No, that's it.
05:39He's contributed with a couple of goals in his time too,
05:41so you just move on.
05:42In terms of the rest of the Celtic squad,
05:44Declan, you've obviously watched a fair bit of Celtic this year,
05:47there's been talk about potentially change on the wing,
05:51on the left side in particular,
05:54they've been linked with, I think it's correct in saying,
05:58Michel-Ange Balagwisha from Royal Antwerp,
06:02who has been a long-term target,
06:05one a player Brendan Rodgers knows well and that has actually spoken to,
06:09we're led to believe,
06:11about a possible move in the near future,
06:14he could become available for around £5 million,
06:18is the asking price I think the Belgian club have set on him at this moment,
06:21and that could have potential repercussions
06:25for Luiz Palma heading in the opposite direction.
06:28Much, you know, kind of similar to Alejandro Bernabeu,
06:31it's just really not worked out for Luiz Palma,
06:33scored a decent amount of goals and contributed with assists last season,
06:38scoring the draw against Atletico Madrid and whatever else,
06:42but he just kind of seemed to, I think,
06:45you go back to that game,
06:46I think it was potentially mullable at home and he missed two penalties,
06:49that seemed to be the end for Luiz Palma after that,
06:52we saw him come in basically to paradise
06:55and just, you know, you're looking for something,
06:57you're coming off the bench for French players,
06:59which is what he has just now to do something,
07:01and he just wasn't able to produce anything,
07:03and I think for his sake it's probably better that he seeks somewhere else,
07:07but in terms of Celtic in that position,
07:09generally, Luiz, I felt in the derby game anyway,
07:12that, you know, if you take Koon and Mahidou,
07:14that team in the game, they weren't very effective,
07:16Celtic at this point in time don't really have anything
07:19to come off the bench in that department,
07:21obviously we've saw flashes of Yang,
07:23who's still very raw at this point in time,
07:25I think Rodgers does see a player in him,
07:27James Flores is injured,
07:29and as we already mentioned there,
07:31Palma looks probably one step out the door already,
07:34so I think the priority in this window for Brendan Rodgers
07:37will certainly be to bring in a winger,
07:39and just looking at it on paper,
07:41Celtic need it because it's so important,
07:43we just need to look at the goals,
07:45and as I said, Koon and Mahidou have brought the club this season,
07:48they need a bit of backup in that department.
07:50It'll be interesting with Luiz Palma's situation as well,
07:52with of course James Flores currently out through injury,
07:54so it could be a bit of a waiting game potentially there,
07:57but we know at this stage that Palma certainly has a lot of interest,
08:00Olympiacos, at the front of that at the moment in time,
08:04he also has Italy interest,
08:07and two clubs in the MLS as well.
08:09Which is the same as holding home as well for the MLS, isn't it?
08:12Again, a player that arrived very early on with Brendan Rodgers,
08:16I think there was a whole story about them meeting up in Mallorca
08:20at the same time and whatever else,
08:22but just kind of seems to have disappeared
08:24into the dark golden tangle,
08:27so again, maybe a player that just suits him better in the club,
08:30just to depart ways, and let him go on with his career.
08:33The first bit of business that could be completed
08:36within the next couple of days certainly is Stephen Welsh,
08:40certainly well down the pecking order at this moment in time,
08:43the centre-back, looks like he will complete his loan move
08:47to KV Mechelen in the Duplic Pro League in Belgium,
08:51probably a move that most Celtic fans will feel
08:55probably should have been done in the summer, would you say?
08:58I think if you just take a look at Stephen Welsh
09:01in terms of game time, for his career to progress,
09:04Lewis needs to be playing games and he's not going to get that
09:07when you've got Cameron Carter-Vickers, William Scales,
09:10who were that dependable pair last season,
09:13bringing in £6m loss in trust in the summer,
09:16you probably thought then that Stephen Welsh was the fourth choice,
09:19centre-half, I know maybe the managers don't work on that,
09:22but that's just probably how we look at it,
09:25but certainly for his career, he's not old,
09:28he's only 24, Stephen Welsh,
09:31he's still got a hell of a lot to go, it's a decent league,
09:34and interesting to see Celtic obviously call back
09:37Iain Murray from Queen's Park to fulfil that quota
09:40going forward, but again a player who came in
09:43earlier in the post to Coghlan, that Midgeland game
09:46that I think people would like to see, whether he ends up
09:49playing a game, you don't know, but obviously it's all Welsh
09:52so that week at Tanner, they didn't really do anything wrong
09:55and obviously another player in that department is
09:58Mike Naroczky, who again just came in,
10:01decent price tag too under Rodgers, played a couple of games at the start
10:04can't really catch a break, I don't think
10:07fitness-wise, I remember the pre-season game doing it
10:10at Somerset early on, I think he was the captain actually,
10:13went off quite early injured, so again, somebody who's
10:16probably not really got his Celtic career started right.
10:19We'll touch on one player who's returned to the club
10:22in January, now back in full training, that is young Johnny Kenny
10:25who has been on loan at
10:28Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland, has had great success
10:31over there as well, he's been banging the goals in
10:34in the Europa League for Shamrock
10:37and much has been made about
10:40it just being between Adam Ida and
10:43Kiyoko Furahashi of course, women for the strike and berth, but
10:46it'll be interesting to see now if he does get rewarded
10:49for that, or do you think those conference league appearances
10:52has maybe swivelled that a wee bit, just because with respect to
10:55the League of Ireland, but just that kind of step up
10:58that he's obviously showed that he's got something about him taking to score
11:01at that level? Yeah, I think that's a good point
11:04I think obviously when you're doing it on the European
11:07stage you're going to get noticed, this is a player that was signed
11:10at the start of the Orange Posh de Coglou era
11:13and has never really had a chance to really showcase
11:16his talents, so I think supporters will be
11:19intrigued to see if he can force his way into the
11:22reckoning and Rodgers' plans during the second half of the season
11:25you'd imagine given that they are in such a strong
11:28position at the top of the table at the moment in time, it's probably a good time to embed them in
11:31And you need squad rotation, we spoke at the top there about
11:34the fixture congestion, it only takes a player to be out injured
11:37whether it's Ida or Kiyoko and you're back to one striker
11:40so I don't think there's any risk in giving Johnny
11:43Kenny a chance to let the manager have a good look at him
11:46but again, the way football works nowadays is they'll have been keeping
11:49a close eye on him, I'm sure there's been plenty of conversations between him
11:52Rodgers, John Kennedy or whoever, and they'll have an idea
11:55what they're going to do with him, whether that's bleeding him back into the first team
11:58or maybe seeking his future elsewhere
12:01but it's going to be an interesting one because he's been pictured in first team
12:04training so we'll just wait and see, exciting times
12:07We'll move on to Rangers then, Declan
12:10What can you say, it's been a
12:13topsy-turvy start to the season
12:16to say the least for Philippe Clement's side, well behind
12:19Celtic in the Scottish Premiership title race
12:22have been faring better of course in Europe where they seem to do
12:25save their best performances
12:28for Europe at this stage, but you'd imagine
12:31in this window, defence at this moment in time
12:34there's a real crisis going on with injuries to the likes of
12:37James Tavernier, Liam Ballaghan, John Souter
12:40you'd imagine that's one area that Clement
12:43will be looking at and there's already been quite a few candidates
12:46rumoured. Yeah, I think we only had to have a look at overseas
12:49goalies out just now too, we only had to look at the back four
12:52and that Dabby game, which came through
12:55the fixture fine, but having to play Yilmaz at the back
12:58Sterling at the middle, it's not too
13:01practical for Clement and when Sterling went off
13:04at the weekend, obviously there's Leon King coming in. Again,
13:07you can maybe see he's a bit similar to Welsh in terms of
13:10he's been in the picture for a while but just not a lot of game time
13:13and he's played up to a decent level with Scotland too
13:16so whether again, Lewis, he maybe looks to
13:19try and bring him, and again, obviously you've spoken about that gap
13:22at the top of the table
13:25in terms of what the priority is towards the rest of the month
13:29For us Rangers, there's the expectation to win games of football
13:32but to bring in somebody for the youth set-up who
13:35has looked okay whenever he's fed to Rangers
13:38they might like to do that, but I know there's a couple of names that are
13:41Yeah, so just touching on those names then, you've got
13:44Bam O'Meaty, who's emerged just over the last 24 hours
13:47or so, plays his football for Marseille
13:50in Liguria and he's valued at around
13:53£9 million, so you'd imagine at this stage, unless it's a loan
13:56deal, that that would be fairly unrealistic, given that we know
13:59Rangers don't have a big transfer kitty to spend
14:02in January, that's been made evidently clear
14:05The other two names that have been mentioned in the last couple of days
14:08are Johnny Evans from Manchester United
14:11highly dependable figure, vastly experienced
14:14could come in and shore up that back line I guess
14:17but you're asking a lot for a guy of his age
14:20to maybe play him in the games
14:23If you put somebody in the building like Balogun, who will eventually come back
14:26Balogun, 36, Evans, 37
14:29it's not very practical, is it?
14:32Again, from what I've watched of Johnny Evans this season
14:35he still looks okay, he doesn't look like a 37-year-old
14:38footballer, but
14:41again, what kind of money would he be looking on to come up to Iserloch
14:44because he'll be in decent money at Old Trafford
14:47I know he was without a club
14:50He was training with United and then came in there
14:53came under the picture under Ten Hag, of course it's all been changed at Old Trafford
14:56I believe he's a big Rangers fan though
14:59so you do wonder if that could have an impact
15:02It could, but you just don't know
15:05If Manchester United need him, which they actually might do
15:08I would imagine he'll be
15:11at Old Trafford until the end of the season
15:14Ryan Porteous is the other name, which given his time in Scottish football
15:17I know he's rather unsettled and not enjoying life at Watford
15:20at this moment in time, but he was somewhat of a pantomime villain
15:23wasn't he, up here during his time at Hibs
15:26so again, another one you wouldn't be
15:29convinced at this stage
15:32You know yourself, in terms of any transfer window
15:35whether it be the summer or the winter, there's always these names
15:38bandied about. Porteous, I wouldn't be surprised if he just becomes
15:41one of those and gets linked back
15:45But again, Scotland international, I know it's not really worked out
15:48probably how we'd have hoped it at Watford
15:51I just want to keep an eye on him
15:54but certainly in terms of where Rangers are at just now
15:57they will be looking, I would imagine, to bring in somebody
16:00just to give a wee bit of exit to that bag full
16:03And in an attacking sense
16:06one name who has been heavily linked
16:09ever since he became a free agent
16:13is Ryan Kent, now a Rangers fan
16:16so he'll be well aware of this man's talents
16:19Albeit, the reaction seems to be
16:22fairly mixed around this one
16:25purely on the fact that a lot of Rangers fans
16:28feel he really downed tools in that final year of his contract
16:31at Ibrox, obviously went out to Turkey
16:34spent 16 months out there
16:37ill-fated to say the least, very few first team appearances
16:40wasn't fancied by Jose Mourinho
16:43has been a free agent now for a couple of months
16:46and still on the lookout for a club, there was even talks
16:49that he's actually back living in Glasgow again
16:52But a player that Felipe Coman has gone on the record
16:55saying that he previously tried to sign
16:58so given his current situation
17:01would this not be a bit of a no-brainer?
17:04Probably is a no-brainer
17:08He is looking for the transfer
17:11and Rangers are willing to sign him
17:14and that team, the way the system plays
17:17is where you would imagine it goes
17:20who drops out, because Cherney
17:23has had a great season so far in terms of goals and assists
17:26and he's come back and looked
17:29the part too for Rangers
17:32certainly in that department they look well stocked
17:35it just depends
17:38what kind of wages as well
17:41you can't imagine him coming in for
17:44£15,000 a week
17:47I'm sure he'd probably be up there as one of the
17:50top earners, but certainly one of the higher earners
17:53depending on where Rangers are at financially
17:56in terms of their kitty for this January window
17:59whether that position is a priority, I'm not too sure
18:03It's a good point, I think there has been other names banded around
18:06two Croatian players in particular
18:09Marco Soldo, who's more of the defensive minded
18:12midfielder, he'd be around £2.4 million
18:15and Leon Belkar, who's more of a natural number 10
18:18both playing back in their homeland in the Croatian
18:21top flight at this moment in time
18:24Ryan Kent is the interesting one here
18:27he will have suitors in January, he's undoubtedly
18:31a player of his quality doesn't become available that freely
18:34in January, does it Declan?
18:37That is all for today's show, thanks for tuning in
18:40and stay tuned for next week's
18:43round-up of all the latest transfer news surrounding Celtic and Rangers