Celtic's aggressive transfer policy: Why it attracted Brendan Rodgers

Celtic’s recruitment over the past couple of years has been nothing short of stellar.

In order to get to this stage, though, it is worth looking back at what prompted this upturn. The Hoops had just surrendered the Scottish Premiership to Rangers in 2021, losing the league by 25 points in what was a shambolic season for the club.

It was clear at the time that wholesale changes had to be made in order for the club to be in a healthy state once again, including the way in which players were recruited. Under Neil Lennon, Celtic largely neglected their successful previous model of bringing in younger talent to develop and nurture in favour of bringing in established names who were signed to try and win 10-in-a-row.

Apart from David Turnbull, who was a transfer target the year before, all of the acquisitions that season – both loan and permanent – were established first-team players. Albian Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas were brought in on long contracts, whilst Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt and Jonjoe Kenny all joined the club on loan deals, respectively, indicating that the board were backing Lennon to finish off the job started by him nine years prior.

READ MORE: What day 1 of Brendan Rodgers' Celtic regime will look like

What looked like a solid transfer window on the outside turned out to be a nightmare when translated onto the pitch. Celtic had deserted their previous model and were paying the price for it, in turn losing their grip on the dominance of Scottish football that they previously possessed and starving their squad of young assets in the process.

Thankfully for the club, this abject failure prompted a structural change in the way Celtic conducted their business, especially regarding player recruitment, which was originally headed by Lennon’s replacement Ange Postecoglou at the start of his tenure as manager in June 2021.

Following the restructure of the club that summer, Postecoglou essentially became the de facto director of football as well as the manager, scouting players as the club faced its biggest rebuild in decades. The recruitment that season had to be near perfect enough to wrestle back the title or Celtic faced a long way back to the lofty heights they had been so accustomed to in years gone by.

Fast-forward two years, and Celtic find themselves in an extremely healthy position, thanks to the recruitment structures put in place two years prior. Although Postecoglou has since departed the club for Tottenham Hotspur, the club have replaced him with previous manager Brendan Rodgers, as well as appointing Mark Lawwell as the head of first-team scouting and recruitment.

Lawwell’s appointment indicates that Celtic are finally taking their recruitment drive more seriously, with a clear strategy now in place, along with a committee handling the entire process.

Indeed, recruitment was a large factor in why Rodgers left the club originally to manage down south at Leicester City, as many of the targets he wanted to sign were not transpiring for one reason or another.

Perhaps most famously, Rodgers’ unenthusiastic response when asked about Marian Shved indicated that he had little choice over the players he was working with, which made his departure from the club all the more unsurprising less than a month later.

With Lawwell (Mark, not Peter) now at the helm with regard to transfers, it seems that the club have got their act together in this particular sector. At his formal reintroduction last week, Rodgers was quick to praise Lawwell’s work so far since his return.

He said: "Mark Lawwell has done a brilliant job with the recruitment. You can see the markets the club are operating in. He’s done a great job in bringing in the players that fit into the profile of Celtic."

The early signs have been promising too in terms of this summer’s recruitment drive. Talented Norwegian Odin Thiago Holm is already signed up for the next five years, with Australian winger Marco Tilio looking likely to follow him through the door.

Their collective profiles and skillsets match Celtic’s laser-focused vision of buying cheap, talented and young players whom they can nurture and sell on for good profit in the years to come.

All this is not to say that Celtic should completely litter the squad with youth talents. It is important that the club manage to strike the correct balance between youth and experience, as emerging talent alone will not be enough to make strides in European competition.

By establishing a solid core of continuity players such as captain Callum McGregor and surrounding him with a mix of fellow experienced players and youth talents, that balance will be maintained.

READ MORE: Who in the Celtic squad is primed for Rodgers' pressing?

It is also reassuring to hear that Celtic will continue to scout the Asian market in search of the latest continental footballing prospects. Both Japan and South Korea have been fruitful avenues for the club in the last two years, with players such as Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Oh Hyeon-gyu all making an impact on first-team proceedings.

There was a worry that these markets would be ditched or neglected following the departure of Postecoglou, but recent K League 1 player speculation indicates that scouting is still taking place in these areas despite the managerial change.

The steps being taken to ensure that this "aggressive" transfer policy is being effectively carried out in turn, ensures that Celtic are taking their recruitment seriously. When the club inevitably lose one of their prized assets to a bigger or more affluent team, it will be in a better position than before to replace the player with someone of similar or greater quality and potential.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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