Celtic Rumours Archive March 18 2018

18 Mar 2018 06:59:03
Ed is there genuine interest in Angus Gunn? I just saw a headling on Newsnow. I remember you talking about him before Xmas.

It would be great to have him and Bain as our Keepers next season with Hazard continuing his development on loan.

{Ed007's Note - Gunn is definitely of interest mate but it would probably only be a loan.}

18 Mar 2018 11:47:55
Thanks Ed, quite excited at the thought of new Keepers coming in. Already like the look of Bain, we would be nuts not to take him on a free.

{Ed007's Note - Getting Bain in on a free to replace DdV would be a shrewd piece of business.}

18 Mar 2018 12:24:49
I younger brother mentioned Gunn to me months ago. Said he's a good young keeper getting better all the time. Said at time we were meant to be watching him.
To be honest I've never seen him.

19 Mar 2018 11:05:22
Sunderland and Everton have set the precedent with the £30M Pickford move (Martin Bain played an absolute blinder with that one btw) . City would therefore be quite right to demand the going rate for an English youth International keeper.

{Ed007's Note - Does that mean Monaco and PSG have set the precedent for young French strikers by paying £166 million for Mbappe? How much should we be asking for Dembele then?
Sadly transfer fees don't work like that, Kev.}

19 Mar 2018 12:41:32
I'm not saying they'll demand that exact amount Ed but these things usually have a domino effect. The Mbappe fee you mentioned wouldn't have been as high without the Neymar fee for instance. My point is that if Sunderland got that much for Pickford then I don't see City valuing Gunn at a price we could afford.

{Ed007's Note - Pickford going to Everton has got nothing to do with Man City or Angus Gunn the same as the Mbappe fee had nothing to do with Neymar apart from PSG couldn't pay for Mbappe without seriously breaching FFP Regs. There was no actual transfer fee as such paid for Neymar, the player and his legal team bought out his contract at Barca by paying the full release clause and he technically signed for PSG as a free agent.
Going by your logic Liverpool will be asking for the same kind of money as Pickford for Danny Ward.}

19 Mar 2018 14:12:50
I'd say Gunn is definitely hotter property atm but I take your point Ed. I still don't think City would be willing to let him go for anything within our budget when there are PL teams rumoured to be in for him.

{Ed007's Note - They sold us Ntcham - who had played circa 50 games in Serie A and had other options - for £4.5 million. Gunn's played 43 games for a team sitting in 15th place in the English second division and conceded 50 goals and managed 15 clean sheets. That's his career to date and you think Man City will ask for crazy money for him, I'm actually surprised that any EPL team would want him as their No.1 just now, it would be a massive risk to take.
Btw, I don't think anyone will buy him this summer, if anything I think it'll be a loan and then after that Gunn only has a year on his City contract. I think it would help our chances of getting him if his dad can talk him into choosing to play for Scotland.}

19 Mar 2018 16:53:43
I didn’t consider his contract to be fair but even using £4.5M as an example, it’s been 10 years since the last time we paid Ntcham money. If the board are willing to spend that kind of figure more regularly then great but I have my doubts about that. I actually haven’t seen Gunn play so don’t know if he would ideal but I’d like to see a new first pick brought in.

{Ed007's Note - I don't see why the board wouldn't be willing to pay £4+ million regularly on players if it's the player the manager wants and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us break our transfer record this summer.
We definitely need to address the GK situation this summer, Bain will be signed on a free which is a bargain but for me he should be our No.2 to hopefully a new No.1. Would you keep Bain in goal even when Gordon is fit again? I would.
I watched Stevie Woods interview on CelticTV at half-time yesterday and I'm sure he said that he had recommended Bain to Rodgers when they were discussing new 'keepers and then he kind of added at the end once Craig Gordon had got injured... it was the way he said it - or I've picked it up wrong - that he had let slip they've been discussing 'keepers for a while.}

20 Mar 2018 18:12:11
Its not the transfer fee that matters, it's whether we can be as sure as dammit that the player will turn out good value for money . We probably have an upper limit of around £10 m because we have to remember we have to budget for an appropriate annual salary plus bonuses We also have to judge that the new player will fit into our squad . A team with one or two stars much better than the rest can find it difficult geld together.