It looks like the Celtic board have made another bad move in the transfer market and this time, their idea was laughed off.
More than half of the January transfer window has already passed, but Celtic have still made no real progress in signing a striker. Reports suggest the club want to bring in two forwards to help Martin O’Neill’s squad, but so far, nothing has worked out.
A return for Kyogo Furuhashi did not happen. Franko Kovacevic is set to join Ferencvaros instead. And now, it seems another striker has no chance of moving to Parkhead.
One clear pattern this window is that Celtic are mostly looking at loan deals. This may be because Martin O’Neill is only in charge until the end of the season, and the club do not want to commit to permanent signings under an interim manager.
One striker Celtic were recently linked with is Joel Piroe of Leeds United. The idea was to sign him on loan. At first, it sounded unlikely — and now, it turns out there was a reason for that.
According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Celtic did suggest the move. However, it did not even reach serious talks. Instead, the proposal was reportedly laughed off, with Leeds surprised by the suggestion.
Why the Move Was Never Going to Happen
Leeds United are owned by 49ers Enterprises the same group that owns Rangers. Because of this connection, there was never a realistic chance that Leeds would help Celtic by allowing Piroe to join them.
The situation looks even worse when you consider that Celtic wanted a loan deal. That would offer little benefit to Leeds, especially when they could loan or sell the player elsewhere without helping Rangers’ biggest rivals.
If Leeds were open to moving Piroe on, they would have many other options and would not choose a deal that strengthens Celtic.
Right now, serious questions have to be asked about Celtic’s recruitment strategy. Not only are deals failing to get done, but the club also seems to be spending time on transfers that were never realistic in the first place while the clock keeps ticking in the transfer window.