JUSTIN: As the £7.5 million duo was questioned, Celtic revealed that…
As the £7.5 million duo was questioned, Celtic revealed that they had repeated Rangers’ transfer blunder.
Kris Boyd believes Celtic’s poor recruitment is a major reason for the Scottish Premiership champions’ decline under Brendan Rodgers with the £7.5 million central defensive duo Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke proof of that.
After winning the title back in 2021, Steven Gerrard’s unbeaten side taking full advantage of Celtic’s struggles under Neil Lennon, Rangers surrendered any hopes of momentum with a couple of poor transfer windows.
Kris Boyd, the Ibrox icon, now sees something very similar happening at Celtic.
Chants of ‘sack the board’ were audible as The Hoops dropped yet more points against Aberdeen a few days after the close of the January window. In stark contrast to the Ange Postecoglou era – where Celtic tapped into his vast knowledge of faraway markets to raid Japanese football – Brendan Rodgers’ second spell at the helm has seen more misses than hits.
Celtic’s transfer business questioned
“If (Rangers) had added a few extra bits of quality, they might have kicked on more domestically (after winning the league under Gerrard),” Boyd tells the Scottish Sun. “But a few bad transfer windows allowed Celtic to overtake them again domestically.
“Performance levels dipped at Ibrox because some new signings didn’t improve the squad. Other players became stale because they didn’t have any competition pushing them.
“Celtic are now in the exact same scenario.”
The green-clad Glasgow giants signed 11 players since the start of last summer. Arguably only Luis Palma can be considered a success, and he is still a downgrade on the dearly departed Jota.
Nat Phillips saw his loan spell from Liverpool ended ahead of schedule, Nicolas Kuhn would allegedly struggle to start for Kilmarnock, while Marco Tilio and Hyeon-Kyu Kwon were farmed out after only a few months in Scotland.
Defensive duo Nawrocki and Lagerbielke, meanwhile, arrived for a combined £7.5 million but have started only eight league games between them.
Gustaf Lagerbielke makes no secret of Serie A dream
“That £23.9 million (Celtic spent) has brought in a dozen players,” Boyd adds. “But how many would be classed as first picks when everyone is fit? Luis Palma? It’s a big maybe. The rest are on the fringes. Or already away on loan.
“Celtic spent around £7.5m on two centre halves in Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke. And neither of them can oust Liam Scales.”
Rodgers confirmed back in December that a lack of opportunities for the duo was simply the result of Scales’ impressive form and their sluggish adaptation to life in Scottish football. Lagerbielke, meanwhile, flirted rather heavily with a January departure, Lecce in Serie A interested until being priced out.
Celtic face Motherwell..