Celtic's groundbreaking £106m summer transfer window predicted - with Leicester, Dortmund and Sunderland deals
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Celtic’s season is already off to a positive start after Brendan Rodgers’ side raised the Championship before cantering to a 4-0 home win against Kilmarnock on the opening day of the campaign.
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Hide AdGoals from Reo Hatate, Liam Scales, Nicolas Kuhn and Anthony Ralston got the Hoops’ title defence off to a winning start and they will hope to build on the three points when they visit Hibernian on Sunday lunchtime. As it stands, the only new signing that started for Celtic in last weekend’s win was goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who joined on a free transfer following his departure from Anderlecht and has stepped into the shoes of Joe Hart after he announced his retirement earlier this summer. Another new addition, Viljami Sinisalo, was named on the substitutes bench and he will provide cover and competition for Schmeichel throughout his first season with the club.
There are still three weeks remaining in the transfer window and it seems increasingly likely Rodgers will face a significant battle to retain the services of key midfielder Matt O’Riley as several clubs around Europe consider a move for the Denmark international. However, there is also a desire to add to his squad before the window closes for business on the final weekend of this month. But what business could be conducted? We fire up Football Manager 2024, edit the Hoops squad to its current form, and see how the world’s most popular managerial simulation believes the next three weeks could play out.
Goalkeepers
A low key start to this as Rodgers retains faith with his three goalkeepers and that includes two of his summer signings.
Rodgers’ goalkeeping options: Schmeichel, Sinisalo, Bain.
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Hide AdDefenders
Now we have some changes as Rodgers adds two new faces to his defensive ranks - although one of them has worked with the Hoops boss earlier in his career. Turkey international Caglar Soyuncu agreed to join on a season-long loan and he will be joined by Sunderland defender Dan Ballard after a £12m fee was agreed with the English Championship club. In terms of departures, Rodgers agreed to allow Cameron Carter-Vickers to join Feyenoord and Gustaf Lagerbielke moved to Roma as they brought in a combined £24m. Maik Nawrocki also departed as he joined Legia on a season-long loan.
Rodgers’ defensive options: Scales, Welsh, Kobayashi, Taylor, Johnston, Ralston, Ballard, Soyuncu.
Midfielders
Again there were outgoings as Rodgers opted to ship out Tomoki Iwata, Reo Hatate and Hyeok-kyu Kwon as they joined Porto, LA Galaxy and Busan respectively. Liam Shaw was allowed to move to join Middlesbrough on loan and the biggest blow came with Matt O’Riley’s £19m exit to Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund. However, there were new faces once again as Rodgers brought in Leicester City midfielder Harry Winks in a £7m deal before taking Ainsley Maitland-Niles on a season-long loan from Lyon.
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Hide AdRodgers’ midfield options: McGregor, Bernardo, Holm, McCarthy, Winks, Maitland-Niles.
Forwards
There we no new departures at the top end of the pitch but the Hoops did boost their attacking options. Portugal international Andre Silva joined on loan for the season and Borussia Dortmund winger Gio Reyna and Marseille star Luis Henrique joined at a combined cost of £23m.
Rodgers’ forward options: Maeda, Palma, Johnston, Kuhn, Yang, Forrest, Furuhashi, Silva, Reyna, Henrique.
Ins
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Hide AdBernardo (£2.5m from Benfica), Sinisalo (£1m from Aston Villa), Schmeichel (free from Anderlecht), Maitland-Niles (loan from Lyon), Silva (loan from RB Leipzig), Ballard (£12m from Sunderland), Henrique (£9m from Marseille), Soyuncu (loan from Atletico Madrid), Winks (£7m from Leicester City), Reyna (£14m from Borussia Dortmund)
Out
Oh (£2m to Gent), Haksabanovic (£1.5m to Malmo), Siegrist (undisclosed to FC Rapid), Nawrocki (loan to Legia Warsaw), Carter-Vickers (£16m to Feyenoord), Hatate (£9m to LA Galaxy), Lagerbielke (£8m to Roma), Iwata (£4m to Porto), O’Riley (£19m to Borussia Dortmund), Kwon (£1m to Busan), Shaw (loan to Middlesbrough)
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