GlasgowWorld reporters Lewis Anderson and Ben Banks sift through the latest transfer news surrounding both clubs
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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest January transfer round-up. Joined today by my
00:06Glasgow World colleague Ben Banks to discuss the latest Celtic and Rangers
00:11transfer murmurings. Ben, week three of the transfer window and it's barely
00:16it's barely taken off so far has it? It's been slightly disappointing, there's
00:21certainly been a lot of names bantered around and we'll kick off with Celtic
00:25today and still a firm interest there in Louis Barry and we're aware that a
00:30seven-figure bid is in the pipeline as of yet that is still to be submitted and
00:36that's what we certainly believe but certainly a player that Brendan
00:40Rodgers seems very keen on. Yeah, it seems as if a whole host of clubs from
00:47down south are interested in him as well, he's had a really good loan at
00:51Stockport County, now there are levels to this game, stepping up from Stockport to
00:55playing in the Champions League where Celtic aspire to be, I can imagine it's going to be quite a jump
00:59but he has scored, I think, 16 goals in 24 games so there's a level of talent there.
01:03He's had quite an interesting career, there was obviously the stuff at the start where he was in Barcelona for a short period of time.
01:09Aston Villa clearly rate him highly, they're looking at him this month in terms of, I don't think with regards to playing there this season
01:16but just to see where he's at level-wise, they've signed Donyell Mallom from Borussia Dortmund
01:20so I would imagine he'll take Barry's role for this season if you want to call it that
01:25and I can't imagine Aston Villa are looking to sell him, certainly not on the
01:30cheap anyway because like every club now they're trying to make these away for
01:33quarters and he fits nicely into that so I would imagine if Celtic want him on a
01:37permanent basis and want to have him as one of these project players where they
01:40sell him on in a couple of years then they're probably going to need to put in a sizeable offer, there's been talk of a seven-figure bid, I don't know if that's the case or not
01:48There's been an English Championship interest as well which on a loan basis probably makes more sense
01:52but if the permanent route's, from an Aston Villa perspective, if it's the permanent route then Celtic's probably the likely option.
01:58Rogers certainly kept his cards close to his chest hasn't he so far this month on the back of the
02:02Komanic win at the weekend, he was asked about potential transfer business, he said you know
02:06we very much know what we want, the type of profile etc, one player you can't imagine that
02:12will be now given his injury setback is Raul Moro from Real Valladolid in La Liga
02:19Good attempt
02:21A collarbone injury that's going to keep him out for three months and this is a winner rated around £8.5m,
02:29Links first emerged in middle of last week, what do we know about him as a player?
02:37I mean it seems that Ajax are also in the case and I mean you could use it as a brawler if Ajax want to
02:42I would say Ajax are a level above Celtic in terms of that player trading model of buying low selling
02:47high, they probably buy from a category above than Celtic so the fact that they won would probably
02:52suggest that there's a decent player in there, technically quite good as well obviously as you
02:57would expect but this collarbone injury has pretty much ended that I would imagine in the summer but
03:03I think what it does do again the fact that Louis Barry and Moro they're all wingers it
03:09definitely seems as if it's a winner but Celtic are going to try and sign before the end of the
03:12window alongside the possible loan for Kieran Tierney which is being discussed ahead of what
03:18looks like a likely pre-contract deal for him at the end of the season
03:21Yeah and that could obviously have implications for young Alex Valley, there's been talk that
03:25Como in Italy are keen to bring him in obviously if Tierney does come in the door obviously we
03:31still don't know what the situation is around Greg Taylor and whether or not he's going to sign a
03:35new contract but young Alex Valley, does he have a future at Barcelona? Probably not it'd be fair
03:41to say but I guess Tierney coming in could have big implications for him
03:45Yeah I think if Tierney comes in I think that'll be a you know there'll be a gentleman's agreement
03:50type thing of he's not going to play here and I think he has actually impressed when he's played
03:55for Celtic to be honest I think there's an argument he probably could be playing and
03:58certainly domestic games more so than Greg Taylor I think Greg Taylor offers you a bit more
04:02experience in defensive stability in European games whereas Alex Valley is a bit raw but he is
04:06more of an attack minded fullback so when you're playing against teams who just sit in on low
04:10blocks and domestically he's got that bit of pace and maybe a bit more imagination in the final third
04:15that can unlock the penalty so I think he's a good player but obviously if Kieran Tierney's
04:19coming back then that changes the ballgame significantly and Como's a nice part of the
04:22world so I'm sure I'm sure flopping Fir Park and Dingwall away in such places as Celtic have
04:30been and are going to be in in the next couple of weeks that's a bit different it's not exactly a
04:34bad standard going to work with at the Cesc Papagats at one of these upcoming teams so I
04:37think that if Tierney comes in to Celtic this month then that might not be a bad alternative
04:42and in terms of other potential outgoings we know obviously Lewis Palma certainly doesn't have a
04:46future at the club and he's gone a wee bit quiet on his kind of chase I know there's a lot of clubs
04:52interested particularly Olympiacos in Greece at this point and Mike Naroski's one that we've not
04:57mentioned on the podcast yet has had interest from Oxford United in the English league
05:04and do you feel that that would be a good move for for Naroski or can you see him potentially
05:09going abroad? It's a weird one because I think he came to Celtic quite highly rated in Poland
05:14I certainly I've had messages from journalists in Poland not that I know any but certainly just
05:18dropping into my inbox and saying look how's this guy doing and it's so clearly they rate him as a
05:22talent over there he played for one of the bigger clubs in Liga Warsaw so I think to see him at
05:26Oxford United without sounding too disparaging towards the news it would probably be quite a
05:32shock over in Poland I could see a situation where he maybe ends back there I think that's been
05:37speculated over there certainly since he got to Celtic and since it became clear that he wasn't
05:41really a regular feature in plans but I think he's shown that again I think sometimes when
05:47these players don't play a lot of minutes you sort of think you know you put them in the flop
05:51category I don't think that's really the case with Mike Naroski I've actually been quite impressed
05:54when I've seen him but there's obviously a reason why he's not playing ahead of Carter Vickers,
06:00Trustee and Liam Scales, a reason why Dane Murray's now back at the club, a reason why Stephen Welsh
06:05was ahead of him so you know he needs to go and play it and playing it down south in England
06:10maybe opens up the market a wee bit more for him he puts himself on the map down there for moves
06:14potentially. Just finally on Celtic then there hasn't been any signings made but the one change
06:20that they have made in the kind of scouting recruitment team is bringing in David Pleat,
06:25former Spurs Sporting Manager, 80 years old has great obviously network contacts down in the
06:33English league and what do you feel do you feel that's kind of a real statement of intent from
06:39Celtic to bring in someone vastly experienced in the English game and who could option you know
06:45he's been credited with the likes of Dele Alli's and Jan Vertonghen's bringing in through White Hart Lane
06:51do you feel that could be a route Celtic would go down in? It's an interesting one because I think
06:56that's probably where Brendan Rogers' bag is, is using that English market that seems to be his
07:01you know key area of expertise so it's interesting they're kind of bringing in another person behind
07:05the scenes whose expertise will probably lie in that market as well I do wonder about you know
07:11what are they targeting there are they looking for signings similar in the moment to maybe Jeremy
07:15Frimpom when they plucked him from relative obscurity in the Man City Academy and bringing
07:19him up is it these type of talents they're looking for because if that's the type of move they're
07:24trying to make it's probably not too bad because obviously that's going to that has already worked
07:28out profitably for Celtic and will work out profitably for Celtic when he eventually moves
07:32on to Bayer Leverkusen that's been speculated for quite some time now so it's an interesting move
07:37I would think he after the career he's had he would maybe want to just call it a day and you
07:41know retire to a nice wee downwardly village on the sea somewhere but clearly not he clearly still
07:46loves it and wants to be involved in the game. I'll move on to Rangers then again relatively quiet
07:52start to the window but Rangers have completed their first piece of transfer business they
07:56brought in Rafael Fernandes on loan from French club Lille Portuguese under 20 international
08:05we don't know a great deal about him and Clement has come out in the press and stated that he's
08:10not ready at this moment in time to make his first team debut which won't exactly be music
08:14to the ears of the Rangers fans and being playing reserve football in France kind of
08:22fits the Rangers model though in terms of the type of profile they're looking at now in terms of
08:27young talent that has potential for the future and that they can hopefully cash in on a couple
08:32years down the line. I mean you look at Clinton Inseala who's taken six months to come into the
08:37scene and he's looked I don't think he's looked a world beater by any stretch of the imagination
08:41I certainly think in Europe it'd be interesting to see sort of how that level of talent does but
08:47it's I think Rangers as much as they need to sign for the future and I think they've done well in
08:54that Hefti and Mohamed Diomande even I know he's had his critics this season but players like that
09:00obviously having Preston shows that model certainly is probably the way to go but they
09:05also need a level especially in the defensive areas they need bodies and now they can't
09:10it depends how much pain they're willing to go through really at the minute because it would
09:16be easy to try and go and get somebody at 29 30 who's going to fill a hole now which they
09:20I think they still do need just to get so this season doesn't get totally out of control
09:25the title's done so you might as well start preparing for next season in the January transfer
09:31market it's an interesting move that he's already came out publicly and basically tried to cool the
09:37flames of expectation for this guy so I'm not necessarily sure as a Rangers fan if I've seen
09:43the amount of injuries at the back and then signing a defender who also isn't ready I don't know how
09:49pleased I'd be about that but ultimately there's a longer term vision at play here which needs to
09:53be remembered yeah and there's certainly been lots of names linked in terms of outgoings as
09:58well at Rangers isn't there we obviously know that Rabbie Matondo, Kieran Dowell two very much
10:03fringe players have been told that they are free to leave the club Matondo will certainly have
10:07plenty of interest being a Welsh international you'd imagine but one piece of business that
10:13could be completed within the coming days is young Alex Lowry heading to Wickham Wanderers
10:20again in the English lower leagues just hasn't worked out for young Alex is it at all at Rangers
10:26he's probably a talking point in terms of has the system in terms of Scottish football
10:32sort of impacted him there wasn't ever really a pathway it seems and it's been something that's
10:37been spoken about at Rangers I'm sceptical of this lack of pathway into the first team
10:42they tried the B teams hasn't worked so now they've gone back to a traditional model of
10:46loaning out players which we've seen this winter with Robbie Fraser and Cole McKinnon going out to
10:51the to the championship but Clement spoke on Sunday about you know the ideal situation for
10:55him is having the EBA team in the actual SPFL structure whether that being linked to League 1
11:01or whatever so he's one that clearly had talent but he went to Harch and that loan just didn't
11:07work out for him he didn't look ready for Premiership football at that point and that
11:11seems to have sent back a wee bit we've not really seen him in the Rangers first team since then and
11:18it is a bit of a shame because he did look quite a talented boy when he came onto the scene so to see
11:21him sort of joining the list of players of you know youngster who came onto the scene but didn't
11:27quite happen for it's a bit of a shame but you know he'll now go down south and try and build
11:33his career that way and I'm sure Rangers will keep an eye on him I do wonder whether they
11:39maybe include like one of these like buy back clauses or sort of sell on fees anyway in case
11:43he does go and do stuff down south. Now two players that we need to touch on before wrapping up today's
11:48show, Yanis Hadji who we know is out of the contract this summer has been a revelation since returning
11:56to the first team fold under Clement obviously we know the kind of contract standoff
12:02situation that occurred at the start of the season that meant he wasn't part of Clement's
12:07first team plans but since he's returned to the team he looks a player that Rangers fans know that
12:12he's capable of he can bring you that spark of magic certainly a lot of chat around his contract
12:18situation and he is one of the higher earners at Ibrox and that potentially would need to take a
12:24significant wage cut to stay at Rangers beyond the summer. Do you think he'll be a Rangers player
12:31at the start of next season? I think he probably will be he's stated how much he loves being at
12:36Rangers and that's clearly evident by the fact that he basically got cast assigned at the start
12:42of the season had to go through negotiations but it still looked committed and full-bodied
12:47when he has played so I think that's credit to his mentality in terms of it would have been very
12:51easy for him to just get sloaned out last season doesn't really get a look in because of contractual
12:57issues and not because of performance this season for him just to go to January and go off
13:01look yous have messed me about a wee bit here why would I want to stay but he clearly has an affinity
13:05with the club and affinity with the fans and it probably makes sense for him to stay because I
13:09don't necessarily see him going to a bigger club than Rangers obviously the Romanian press and
13:15fans in Romania are daft for him I'm pretty sure his wedding was live so that gives you the you
13:22know obviously abroad just how much eyes are on him they sort of see him as the next great hope of
13:28that nation so is he realistically going to go to a bigger club than Rangers the only club I can
13:34only clubs I should say I can see him going to with any level of fanfare would be a club in Romania
13:39where he would get treated like the next coming of you know his dad essentially so I think probably
13:46the biggest club he's going to get is Rangers and I do wonder maybe he realises that maybe do him
13:50some good to then actually have a full season where he's not being clouded by contract talk
13:55or anything like that he's just got a season to focus on his football doesn't he worry about his
13:58future and can just try and get back to the levels he probably at his best under speaking
14:05and just finally then we'll touch on Cyril Desser's future much maligned figure to say the
14:10least throughout his time at Ibrox so far in my opinion gets a raw deal sometimes I get why
14:21supporters do have their frustrations around you know his style of play and he obviously
14:25misses a fair number of sitters and hat trick at the weekend against Fraserborough in the Scottish
14:31Cup and we know that there's transfer interest in him I think Cagliari and Serie A have been
14:39particularly keen on a transfer this month given he has lost his place in the team to
14:45Hamza Ogeman and Danilo seemingly ahead of him now in the pecking order as well
14:50do you feel it's in his best interest to move on or? I think for him I mean he's at a different
14:55stage of his career to those other two and he's approaching 30 so realistically this next move
15:00whenever he leaves Rangers at some stage is going to be his last big move quote unquote so I think
15:07he's in that period he's got an awkward decision in that if he moves somewhere else he's probably
15:11going to sign a three and a bit year deal then he's into his early mid 30s and then you know
15:16things you do start with sort of 11 seasons at that point it's just a conundrum it's such a
15:22confusing I think I did on my man buys for Sunday like the confusing Rangers conundrum continues
15:29because he misses a clear open goal and nearly puts the thing out for a shy and then he scores
15:35three goals and sets up an assist and it's like his overall play I think is what people get
15:41confounded by but then he's also putting up the numbers and you can see he puts in the effort it's
15:46through no lack of trying and he's just an extremely confusing football player and ultimately I think
15:53that's why he's probably at Rangers he said himself if he scored goals every week like
15:58you know some of the goals he has scored he probably wouldn't be at Rangers and so if he's
16:02going to be behind Hamza Ighaman and De Niro's there as backup then probably for Surreal Decessors
16:07it makes sense but at the same time he has sort of shown them for 18 months he's going to be good
16:12for 10 to 15 goals a season and that can make a difference this season so I mean it just sums
16:18him up that this is the situation is confusing and which probably goes down to his you know ability
16:24time at Rangers it's just it's all been very confusing and nobody's been able to get a mark
16:28on whether it is any good or not. So just to wrap up then by this time next week what we're expecting
16:34from both clubs we're expecting the Kieran Tierney deal to go through we're expecting
16:38the Celtic to potentially bring in a winger which might obviously have implications the likes of
16:43Louise Palmer, Rangers you'd imagine potentially another defensive option and maybe another
16:49attacking option albeit they've probably kind of said that I think yeah I think defence will be the
16:56area and then I can see another strike but that might depend on if Dexter's close because you
17:01don't because you're then they play with one sole striker up front and if you're going to go with
17:04four senior options then you know that there's a lot of there's going to be a lot of frustrated
17:10figures in there because what you don't want to do is blow your squad to the point where you've got
17:13too many senior players in the stand that can cause issues as well so I think it'll be quiet
17:18quiet it's been a very quiet January window in general not just with these two clubs but Scottish
17:22football in general it's just been I think people are very wary that this market can be quite volatile
17:28but it also does seem to pick up very frantically in the last week of the window so I'll be interested
17:34to see where we're at then this time next week.