End of transfer window draws nearer
With only 16 days left until the end of the current transfer window, some teams are working frantically behind the scenes to find suitable recruitments that will enhance their squad. Scottish teams are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with teams in England, which is shown by Celtic and Rangers’ pursuit of Cardiff defender Glenn Loovens. In a continuation of the theme of the last few seasons, Celtic are now poised to sign the Dutchman from under the noses of their Glasgow rivals. Rangers made moves to sign Derek Riordan, Scott McDonald, Scott Brown, and more recently Georgios Samaras, before they eventually opted for Celtic and Loovens looks set to join them. The lure of Champions League football, something Rangers cannot offer this season, may have clinched the deal in Celtic’s favour.
This follows the drawn out transfer saga involving Auxerre’s central defender Gabriel Tamas and adds to Celtic other recruits of the summer – winger Paddy McCourt and midfielder Marc Crosas. Celtic will surely add one or two more players before August 31st, with a left back being the most likely position.
Rangers could today end their midfield problems, set off by the injury to club captain Barry Ferguson, with the signing of Pedro Mendes from Portsmouth. At the time of writing the 29-year-old is discussing personal terms with the Ibrox after passing his medical. Rangers recently failed to agree personal terms with Watford defender Danny Shittu, now a t Bolton, as the player was expecting close to £20,000-per-week. Pedro Mendes will most likely be on more than this so Rangers must be using the money received from Carlos Cuellar’s move to Aston Villa to make him one of the top earners at the club.
Mendes joins fellow new signings Madjid Bougherra, Kyle Lafferty, Kenny Miller, Andrius Velicka and Aaron Niguez Esclapez at Ibrox. How many more will follow will probably depend on how many players manager Walter Smith is able to get rid of. He is now left with a squad, at least in terms of numbers, to fight both a domestic and European campaign. Now that European football is over for the season, a few will be expected to leave. The problem is there is no interest being shown in any of the likely candidates for the chop. Daniel Cousin, who almost joined Fulham in January for £3.5m, has since shown his true colours and no one is interested in a Jean-Claude Darcheville who can only last for sixty minutes.
Elsewhere in the SPL, most of the transfer activity these clubs are likely to partake in have already happened. Dundee United Aberdeen, Falkirk, St Mirren and Kilmarnock have added most, if not all, of the players they are going to recruit this summer while SPL new boys Hamilton, who have already acquired six new players, will probably look to beef-up their squad a little more, although no clear signing targets have been made public.
Hearts have been busy over the last few weeks signing striker Mike Tullberg and goalkeeper Marian Kello, while obtaining a work permit for Ugandan international David Obua. One or two more players could be signed before the end of the month, with the right back area being a priority.
Motherwell have been frustrated in most of their attempts to make any signings but have added Jim O’Brien, formerly of Celtic, and goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen from Blackburn on loan.
They recently had a bid rejected for Livingston full back and captain Dave MacKay and according to a Scottish newspaper they are currently tracking Rangers misfit Andy Webster, who is famous for being the first player to invoke a loophole in FIFA rules that allowed him to cancel his contract with Hearts with over a year left run on it. He moved to Wigan, didn’t settle and has since been at Rangers, where he struggled with injury and made few appearances.
Motherwell have a small squad and a very limited budget and seem to be suffering more in the transfer market than any other club in the SPL. The longer they stay in Europe, the more their SPL campaign will suffer, unless they manage to add more before the end of the transfer window.
Another side who have struggled to sign players is Inverness Caley Thistle. They have lost strikers Dennis Wyness, Graham Bayne and Marius Niculae and have so far brought in Andy Barrowman, who scored on his debut last week, after moving from Ross County, where he scored 24 goals last season. They have also added another striker in Adam Rooney from Stoke, full back Lionel Djebi-Zadi and goalkeeper Ryan Esson. To ensure their survival, Inverness will still need to add more to their attack. They recently failed in a bid to take Calum Elliot on-loan from Hearts and have handed a trial to Dutch winger Kiran Bechan.
That leaves Hibernian. They have made a few new signings, including former Chelsea youngster Joe Keenan and striker Steve Pinau on-loan from Genoa, although manager Mixu Paatelainen recently told reporters that up to nine players at Hibs are not good enough to play for the club. He has left it very late to realise this and it will be surprising if he is able to clear out all the players he wants to, and recruit a few more, within the next two weeks.
