Celtic signing sums up Stoke City balancing act in transfer window finale

Celtic signing sums up Stoke City balancing act in transfer window finale

Stoke City have to make decisions for the long game in the summer transfer window and they are still trying to ‘add that bit of quality’ to a hungry squad

Work to be done… key figures Jon Walters and John Coates at the bet365 Stadium. (Image: Getty Images)

There is a balancing act in play at Clayton Wood heading into the last few days of Stoke City’s summer transfer window.

There is a chase for a new striker, a need to keep the squad tight and hungry but not too small that it makes the club vulnerable over the course of a blood and thunder Championship season. There are decisions to be made about who might have to leave to get game time or which young players might benefit from going out on loan. How soon can Stoke clear the treatment room and can they keep a handle on injuries?

Jon Walters admits it can be frenetic – carnage is actually the word he used – and it will remain so until the deadline passes at 11pm on Friday, August 30. It’s a big, messy, important 11 days and every decision has a knock-on effect, including some made by other clubs.

“It’s been the same from right of the beginning of the summer,” said the sporting director. “We did really well to get three in very early on because we wanted to give Steven (Schumacher) and the coaching team as much time as they could with players, so to get those three in when we were competing with other teams for those signings was great.

“We managed to get Sam (Gallaher) a few weeks into pre-season, then Lewis (Koumas), who is a really exciting player from Liverpool, and I’m glad they trust us with one of their brightest prospects, and Bosun (Lawal), who is going to be a huge player for the club and matches our ambition in terms of where we want to get to.

“We all know where we were at the Coventry game. We looked quite bare really, we didn’t have the strength in depth that Coventry had coming off the bench but you add those players who are out injured, six or seven, and put them back in then we look a lot stronger.

“But we want to add a few more and add strength in depth while balancing squad numbers because we don’t want to get into a position where we’re carrying 28, 29, 30 players because it’s an absolute nightmare for a coaching team to deal with. We want a hungry squad, we want less injuries, we want a fit squad but we want to add that bit of quality.

“As every team wants to do, you want to add to the firepower, add to top end of the pitch, add a bit of flair and some goals while maintaining pathways for players in the team and those players who came in maybe a year or 18 months ago, giving them a chance to develop and push on because there’s no point in blocking pathways for players we have in the building.”

There have been seven signings so far this summer and more to follow. It’s busy but seriously different to last summer, when 18 players arrived, and a lot of the thinking has gone into building a squad for the long game rather than just this season, although Koumas and Andrew Moran are both only on long-term loans.

To illustrate that concept, Walters pointed to the decision made regarding bringing in Bosun Lawal from Celtic, even when a medical unexpectedly threw up that he will take a while to be available for Schumacher to select.

He said: “You’re building a team and building a squad and it doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t just happen in one window. Myself and Chris Laird (club secretary) were looking at a team-sheet from May 2023 and there were four players in the starting line-up, a goalie on the bench, and five players out of 24 or 25 who are still at the club.

“There’s been a huge amount of turnover and we don’t really want that. We want stability and growth and long-term prospects in the team.

“I’ll highlight the signing of Bosun, who we were getting from Celtic. It was a tough deal to get done and we jumped ahead of a lot of big teams to get his signature, which we’re delighted about, but the medical highlighted something that we didn’t know about and Celtic didn’t know about, and other teams might pull away from a deal because they want a player to be immediately available and we were looking a bit short of numbers in certain positions, but this was a long-term signing for the club of someone who matches our ambitions. Why would we be put off by a short-term issue which won’t take long to resolve? It doesn’t change him as a player.

“Our ambitions as a football club are to be right at the top. His ambitions as a player are the same too. You take that into account, it’s a long-term decision rather than be put off by getting just another body in.

“You want to create pathways and there are young players coming through and allow players who have joined the squad in the last couple of years to develop and coach players to get them better. That’s part of the club rather than saying we need a quick fix just to get a body in. We’re trying to build something, build a cohesion within a squad and togetherness in a group. It takes time.

“It helps when you’ve got a group of players in the club who know the staff, have that desire and hunger to get out of this league and push on into the Premier League.”

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It is, everyone knows, going to be a long road back there and it is probably going to require some reluctant patience along the way.

Walters said: “We’re at the start of the journey in so many parts of the team. It was the start of my journey at the club at the back end of last season, Steven’s a young coach, we’ve got new members of staff, new members of the squad, we’re at the start of a journey.

“It’s a Championship season. There will be lots of ups and downs. Stick with us when it’s not going our way and keep steady because that’s the whole thing is togetherness. The club’s motto is united strength is stronger. Hopefully we’ll have the good times sooner rather than later but it’s a long season.

“There are some real good prospects bubbling under. You saw a few at Carlisle on Tuesday night and we’re getting more and more players coming through and it’s an exciting time to show those families and players that there’s a pathway. The women’s side is growing and year on year we’ll improve. Work on the new first team training building will hopefully start in September.

“The club’s in a really good position. We’ve got the full support of everyone in the building. You could talk for hours on things we’re trying to implement behind the scenes. You’ll only see the first team on the pitch but all the things we’re trying to do with staff and all the work that Simon King’s team is doing on the stadium side of things, we feel that’s there for us to do and that energy is there for us.

“We hope we can connect things and have a successful season but there’s a long-term ambition of the club. We know where we want to be and it takes time to get there. It takes time to build a squad and you can’t solve everything straight away. There’s plenty of good things going on at the club just stuck with us and we’ll do it together.”

Dream Wijndal alternative: Celtic working on deal to sign £3m star

Celtic secured their place in the next round of the League Cup on Sunday with a 3-1 win for Brendan Rodgers‘ side against Hibernian at Parkhead.

The Hoops were knocked out of the competition at this time last season by Kilmarnock but ensured that they picked up the win and progressed thanks to two goals from Daizen Maeda and one from Nicolas Kuhn.

It was the second win against Hibernian this month after the two sides had met the previous weekend in the Scottish Premiership, with goals from Nicolas Kuhn and Callum McGregor sealing all three points at Easter Road.

Viljami Sinisalo will have to wait for his debut between the sticks but there was a second debut for Idah, whilst Kasper Schmeichel and Paulo Bernardo had already made their respective debuts earlier this month in the Premiership.

There could be more debuts to come for the Scottish giants over the coming weeks, as the summer transfer window does not officially slam shut until the end of the month.

Rodgers and the club’s recruitment team still have a bit of time left to make further signings for the Hoops, and they reportedly have their eye on a new defender to bolster the squad.

Celtic keen on Premier League full-back

According to Football Insider, Celtic are working on a deal to sign left-back Owen Beck from Liverpool on a permanent deal before the end of the window.

The report claims that the Hoops are hoping to see off competition from a host of clubs in the English Championship to land the full-back’s signature, with Queens Park Rangers named as one of the interested parties.

It states that the Premiership champions want to sign the 22-year-old talent on a permanent basis and that the Premier League giants are looking for a fee within the region of £3m.

Football Insider reveals that the Bhoys are in the market to add another left-back to their squad because Greg Taylor is currently the manager’s only senior option in that position, with Alexandro Bernabei currently out on loan.

The outlet adds that Celtic see Beck as a player with ‘huge’ potential who could come in and provide the Scotland international with competition for his place in the starting XI this season.

However, the Welsh dynamo is not the only left-back on the club’s radar. Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph recently claimed that they are also interested in Ajax’s Owen Wijndal.

The journalist claimed that the Dutch giants are open to cashing in on the left-footed defender and that Celtic have made an initial inquiry about his availability.

Owen Wijndal’s form last season

The 24-year-old defender struggled to nail down a starting position at Ajax in the 2022/23 campaign, with just 15 starts in the Eredivisie, and was sent out on loan to Royal Antwerp last term.

It was a chance for the full-back to go and play regular football week-in-week-out in the Belgian top-flight and he enjoyed a solid season down the left flank.

However, it was not an outstanding year for Wijndal and there may be concerns that he would not come in at Parkhead and offer genuine competition for Taylor.

23/24 season

Owen Wijndal (Pro League)

Greg Taylor (Premiership)

Appearances

29

35

Goals

1

3

Assists

0

4

Big chances created

1

11

Duel success rate

57%

52%

Tackles + interceptions per game

2.6

2.2

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, their defensive statistics were similar at league level last term but the Celtic star’s attacking work was vastly superior.

As a dominant team in the Premiership, the club’s full-backs must be able to carry an attacking threat to break down low blocks and it does not appear as though Wijndal does.

His statistics in the Champions League for Antwerp last term are further evidence of that. The Dutchman did not create a single chance for his teammates in six outings in the competition, with zero key passes in five starts.

His form in Europe and domestically for the Belgian outfit suggests that Wijndal would not offer much in possession for the Hoops, which is not ideal when Taylor has the quality to be a difference-maker in the final third.

Beck would be a dream alternative to Wijndal as a £3m signing from Liverpool due to his Premiership experience and attacking quality from left-back.

What Owen Beck could bring to Liverpool

Whilst the 24-year-old Dutchman struggled to provide much creativity down the left flank for Antwerp last season, Beck spent the year on loan at Dundee and provided a big presence at the top end of the pitch.

Liverpool sent the young defender out on loan to the Premiership and he proved his quality in and out of possession throughout the season, earning himself a place in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year.

This means that Celtic would be signing a player who has already shown that he can compete week-in-week-out in the Scottish top-flight, whereas Wijndal has no prior experience in the division, and this suggests that the Welshman could hit the ground running at Parkhead.

The 22-year-old, who was once described as a “spectacular” left-back by talent scout Jacek Kulig, made an impact in the final third with 2.3 key passes per game and six ‘big chances’ created in 25 league outings.

23/24 season

Owen Wijndal (Pro League)

Owen Beck (Premiership)

Appearances

29

25

Goals

1

2

Key passes per game

0.6

2.3

Assists

0

4

Tackles + interceptions per game

2.6

3.9

Duel success rate

57%

55%

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Beck has the ability to offer far more than Wijndal in possession due to his ability to score goals and create chances from a left-back position.

He also made 1.3 more tackles and interceptions per game last term, whilst winning a similar percentage of his physical duels, and this suggests that Beck could win possession back more frequently through tackles and interceptions for Celtic.

Therefore, the £3m-rated star could be a dream alternative to the Ajax defender because of his Premiership experience, defensive work, and attacking quality, which is why Rodgers must push for this deal to be completed this month.

Fee Agreed As Celtic Man Heads To Championship