Why Rangers and Celtic Don't Buy From Scotland Anymore

the passing of the winter window in Scotland saw the continuation of a recent Trend despite constant stories and rumors linking Rangers with a move for heart Striker Lawrence shankland and Celtic with a deal for aberin Hitman boan meowski nothing materialized and both players stayed at their respective clubs over the past three or four seasons the old firm have been consciously shunning players who play their trade in Scotland it wasn't always like this though in the 90s Rangers brought in a total of 20 players from Scottish clubs their busiest SE season was an ' 0708 when they acquired six players it was a bit of a mixed bag with Steven Whitaker Steven naith and Kirk Broadford going on to have good Spells at I broos but Alan go Graeme Smith and arur vulas made only a handful of appearances between them Rangers most frequently did business with Hibernian bringing in five players from Easter Road a tally which included Kenny Miller Kevin Thompson and the aforementioned Steven Whitaker arguably their most successful purchases came from Dundee from whom they picked up cloudo digia naal Novo Gavin Ray and zurab kishish V although Chris Boyd from karik was also a bit of all right in the same period Celtic acquired 18 players from Scottish clubs their busiest campaign was in ' 0607 when they concluded deals for five players Paul Harley Steven Presley Mark Brown Gary Caldwell and Derek ryen just like Rangers they raided hibs most often for six players DJ aat or lson Scott Brown Chris killan and ryen and Caldwell Celtic broke the record for for the largest transfer fee between two Scottish clubs when they paid hebbs £ 4.4 million for Scott Brown a record which still stands today Brown went on to spend 14 years at Celtic and captained them for 11 of those and he won countless trophies that's good business in my book Celtic continued to snap up Talent from Scottish teams at more or less the same clip in the 20110 obtaining 16 players across the decade they picked up the most from dundy United three Stuart Armstrong Gary McKai Steven and nadir chii the 2010s were a strange time for Rangers to put it mildly in the first two seasons they had got just three players from other teams in the country the Jrs were then relegated to the third division and their financial situation coupled with their desire to get back to the Premier League as fast as possible meant they were forced to rely on the mainly free transfers of players who were familiar with the Scottish game and in the Four Seasons they spent outside the Top Flight they acquired 18 players from clubs in Scotland almost as many as they had got across the whole of the naughties hearts were the most frequent and reliable source for playing staff during this time as they brought six in from th Castle Ian Black David Templeton Kevin Kyle Danny Wilson Jason Halt and Billy King this policy was more or less abandoned when they got back to the SP as in the last four seasons of the decade they signed off on deals for just six domestic transfers the old firm have carried this brutal cutting back into the 2020s as both teams have brought in only two domestically based players in the eight window so so far David turbo and Benjamin seis have been signed for Celtic the former was sold to Cardiff City this janary window and the latter seems to be behind Scott Bane in the backup goalie picking order he has made only two appearances for the hoop so far Rangers have brought in the pair of John Sutter and Scott Wright so what's going on here well I feel there are several factors at play firstly is financial strategy in recent times both clubs have been following a player trading model in the transfer market where they acquire players with a view to develop them and sell them for a profit the most fertile ground for this strategy has undoubtedly been South of the Border where the opportunist old firm have taken advantage of either the Bosman ruling or the crossb development rules which allow them to snap up talent for free or for a poultry sum both clubs have seen some huge successes in doing this Rangers got both Joe aribo and Calvin bassi for free from Charlton and Leicester respectively after three seasons at the club Aro was sold to Southampton for €7 million bassi had arrived a year later but was sold in the same window to Ajax for a whopping €23 million for Celtic two major triumphs have been M dembele and Jeremy frong dembele was a 2016 free transfer from film after two incredible seasons in which he scored 51 goals Leon bought him for €22 million right back fral was signed for € 380,000 from Man City in 2019 he very quickly established himself as a key player in the first team and after only a Seas season and a half was on the move to buy a lusion for €1 million in Germany he has emerged as one of the most exciting young players in Europe Todd cwell who Rangers got from Norwich and Matt O'Reilly who Celtic got from MK Dawns are potential future success stories it is not only England as the two Glasgow Giants have been casting their net far and wide as well as many other European countries Rangers have clearly identified Belgium as a hot bed for talent getting four players from the jupiler pro league in Four Seasons fashion sakala was a free transfer from KV usen in 2021 he was sold to Saudi proleague outfit ala in the summer of 2023 for 4.65 million euros Nicholas Raskin was a 1.5 million EUR purchase from standard Lee age and will most likely net the jars a tidy profit in the future likewise Celtic have scoured Europe for players that fit their transfer strategy Poland Greece Sweden Norway Russia and Portugal amongst others have been sources of talent in recent Seasons however they have heavily invested in the East Asian market the arrival of an pooku in 2021 sparked an influx of players from the G League where he had been managing Oklahoma F marinos before coming to Celtic he brought in six Japanese players in his two seasons of the club he also signed Hong guo from South Korea the arrival of Brendan Rogers has mainly seen the transfers revert back to a more European flavor Celtic clearly retain a major interest in exploring what this region has to offer further though as huk K Kuan and hung Jun yangang were brought in from K League 1 and two respectively Rio hatti who was bought from Kawasaki frontal for 1.53 million e is a player I really like and I think he will fetch a pretty penny when he leaves Celtic so why am I telling you all this well firstly it's because there is clearly a hard value cap placed upon players who have never ped their trade outside of Scotland John mcin moved to Aston Billa for € 3.1 million in 2018 following weeks of Celtic lowball hiin over the transfer fee after only a couple of seasons in the Premier League he was being touted with a 50 million move to Manchester United bologa paid Hearts just €1 1.7 million EUR for Aaron hickey in 2020 after two seasons in Italy the first of which was heavily disrupted by injury his value had skyrocketed and brenford forked out4 million e to bring him to the Premier League where his stock has continued to rise Louis Ferguson joined bolognia from aine for a fee of £3 million he has been a revelation for Chago Mo's side is their captain and has been heavily linked with a 30 million euro move to Juventus would any of these figures have been possible if these three examples move to Rangers or Celtic instead of course we'll never know but I personally think not aside from some exceptions like Stuart Armstrong who was bought from dundy United for 2.2 million euros and sold to sou dampton for 5 million more than that or Academy products Kieran Tierney and Nathan Patterson who fetch 27 and 14 million e respectively players who have never played side of Scotland aren't exactly seen as money-making machines for the Old Farm either the club makes a small profit like with Ryan Christie more or less recoups what they paid as with ls Morgan or make a small loss as happened with David turble what is more other s clubs are not death and will not allow their best players to leave on the cheap in fact they are more likely to add a couple of mil onto the price if the Old Farm are interested it makes sense if you're going to weaken yourself and strengthen your opponent you should be handsomely compensated for it an example of this in action I think would be the case of Scott McKenna aine rejected a reported £5 million bed from Celtic for the defender in 2019 demanding 10 million from the park head Club a year later they sold him to Nottingham Forest for £3 million and finally bringing in players from abroad gives the old firm a chance to enlarge their fan bases and to expand their commercial brand into untapped and potentially lucrative markets signing o from suan blue wings in South Korea gives Celtic the chance to do that signing Kevin this bit from Hibernian in Edinburgh doesn't it seems to me that those in charge of transfer strategy have decided that generally speaking getting players from other clubs in Scotland doesn't fit the bell in terms of player trading but that doesn't tell the full story of what's going on it doesn't explain why Rangers apparently did not even bother to bed for Lewis Ferguson when he was available a man with Rangers in his blood and strong connections to ibros yet they let him go without a fight a year later they forked out roughly the same amount they could have got Ferguson for on Sam Lamers a striker who Michael Beal tried to shoehorn into the attacking Midfield role that Lewis occupies excellently for bolognia to some less than impressive results it also doesn't explain why Celtics spent months Fanning about with insulting sub2 million pound offers for John mcin which ultimately drove him into the clutches of Aston Villa for me this is explained by arrogance by snobbery the fact that the old firm beli that these players are not good enough for them that feeling starts in the teres with the fans who claim the likes of lwis Ferguson are nowhere near the required standard to wear the jersey and the peers to go all the way up to the top with those in charge deciding that if they cannot pick players up on the cheap or for free then it's not worth it both Rangers and Celtic have Ambitions to be competitive and successful in Europe and clearly feel that bringing in players from abroad is the way to accomplish that although this may be a bit shortsighted transfer marked has the makeup of Rangers and Celtics first team squads at 75% foreigners which will cause problems in the future when trying to meet homegrown quotas when registering for European competitions however this coupled with the transfer strategy aspect probably explains why Celtic did not move for Josh do in the summer of 2022 in desperate need of a left back do was one of the most exciting prospects in Scotland and at the age of 20 had already made 62 appearances in the SP he was available for around 3 million in the end do moved to helis Verona in the Syria and Celtic took a gamble on the Argentine fullback Alejandro bernabe for €4.3 million e some off field troubles alongside some erratic performances on the rare occasion he got the dawn the Hoops especially in defense meant he never won the trust of either big an or Brendon Rogers and is currently on loan at Brazilian Club International Bo on the other hand just sealed A6 million euro move to saso this winter window taking a risk of foreign players who may or may not be able to hit the ground running in Scotland rather than going for ones who have a proven track record in the league is a choice Rangers and Celtic have consistently been making Rangers chose Danilo and Des over Lawrence shankland Celtic went for Yuki kobashi over Ryan porz but in the case of boam meowski and Celtic there could be something else going on here he is 24 and has played in Macedonia and Hungary and is currently being linked with a move to a host of European clubs so he could generate a Prof in the future perhaps Celtics still have a bad taste in their mouth from the last time they moved for a striker who was tearing up the SPL ner chii scored 11 League goals in his debut season for dundy United and followed that up with 14 in his sophomore campaign the same T meowski is sitting on now despite being handed an eight match ban for biting Jim mallister on the leg Celtic were impressed Enough by Chief ch's goals and performances that they not only forked out €2 million EUR to bring him to parkhe head but gave him the iconic number seven jersey he was a massive flop managing just four goals in 26 appearances while this theory is a bit more speculative I wonder whether it is playing in the back of the minds of those in charge at Celtic when considering meowski the final reason that I think the old FM have been overlooking the Scottish Market recently is that the footballing landscape has changed not only do Celtic and Rangers no longer have a monopoly on Hing up the best players in the league but they are no longer the most attractive option for ambitious players looking to further career the successes of hickey Ferguson and others has not only piqued the interest of clubs around Europe in what the Scottish Market has to offer but inspired other players to follow in their footsteps and make the move abroad right back max Johnson who joined Austrian Bundesliga side Strom grats from motherwell last year said this in a recent interview you saw how well Aaron hickey has done abroad and now he is playing in the Premier League and LS Ferguson is flying just now so you see boys who have been brave enough to take the step and move away and that obviously encouraged me to do it as well young Talent May well look at the case of Scott Allen who wasted a year rotting on the Celtic bench before being farmed out on loan or Jack Henry and LS Morgan who were never really given a fair crack at the Whip and much maligned by the fans if the choic is between joining one of the old firm and being scrutinized and judged by the fans and press who expect a win every game as well as more than likely barely playing or moving down south or to Europe and improving as a player and furthering your career it would appear to be a no-brainer so while shankland and meowski may yet end up at Rangers or Celtic and as a fan of the Hoops I hope we do sign big boan if this was 10 or 15 years ago they would have been done deals already going forward I can't see things changing much I believe Rangers will continue to be opportunistic and look for pre-contract deals when they can like with Ryan Jack and John Sutter and I think Celtic are mainly focused on youth in Scotland they aggressively pursued Dylan Reed but failed to land him and are now rumored to be interested in motherwell Scarlet lenon Miller whether they will be more successful with him remains to be seen

Channel: FlashBack Football

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Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2024