Patience is required as Celtic add their touches to the squad ahead of the new season.
Recruitment and the road Celtic went down was a huge talking point last season and you feel it did damage parts of the campaign.
At one point, over the winter period, the team were losing at home to Hearts and there were chants of ‘sack the board’.
Brendan Rodgers’ return wasn’t going to plan, but in the end, the cream rose to the top and Celtic delivered another title.
It seems to be the norm, but every time the summer transfer window opens, Celtic fans are hoping for the powers that be to push the boat out.
Most of the time, it just doesn’t happen and those in the boardroom will point towards players like Matt O’Riley, and his rise, as an example.
But with the Champions League format changing next season, and more money coming in, there was hope something might change, but you feel it’s not going to be the case.
That is proven by the expected transfer of Kasper Schmeichel, who is going to be Joe Hart’s replacement after he retired.
Youngster Viljami Sinisalo has joined Celtic from Aston Villa, but he is expected to take a back-up role, as Gordon Dalziel has been left ‘surprised’ by the club’s actions.
The Scottish pundit and former Rangers man didn’t expect the champions to replace Hart with a goalkeeper who is the same age, as he told Clyde 1.
As a result, he is questioning if this incoming Schmeichel transfer will work, with the 37-year-old leaving Anderlecht at the end of the previous campaign and also playing for Denmark at Euro 2024.
Celtic decide to replace Joe Hart with Kasper Schmeichel
“You just wonder if it’s a case of the experienced one of Schmeichel and the young one (Sinisalo) coming in to learn off him, to maybe take over in a few years,” said Dalziel.
“You just wonder, are the Celtic fans surprised that they are going down the same road as Joe Hart? 37. We know he has bags of experience. We know he has been a terrific goalkeeper. An international goalkeeper. I am sure he will fit well into Celtic. But I just wonder if they would have gone for something different after Joe Hart.
“I really don’t know (if Schmeichel will work). I think he has been a terrific goalkeeper. No doubt about the career he has had. The amount of games he has played. He has that added advantage that he has played under Brendan Rodgers. Joe Hart retired at 37 as a goalkeeper and he was outstanding for Celtic – if you are looking at a keeper at 33 or 34. I am all for it. I thought they would go down a different road. I know they have added the young lad from Aston Villa. I am slightly surprised with it. But it could be an outstanding signing.”
Kasper Schmeichel is a wise signing by Brendan Rodgers
At the end of the day, Hart wasn’t exactly a spring chicken when he first arrived.
In fact, he was in a worse situation because he was on Tottenham’s bench, he hadn’t been a regular starter for several years and he was in his mid-30s.
Yet, when the former England international decided that he was going to retire this summer, many thought it was a mistake.
Schmeichel has all the experience in the world, on the domestic and international stages. He is a proven winner.
But most importantly, his character and leadership qualities should be trusted because he will fill the void which has been left by Hart.
