Celtic and Rangers Strengthen in Chaotic Transfer Window
Martin O’Neill left the window with a smile. Derek McInnes left it looking like he’d gone 12 rounds.
Two managers, one city, one of the most chaotic Scottish transfer windows in recent memory – and both convinced they’ve come out of it stronger.
O’Neill content as Celtic scramble late
Celtic did their heavy lifting with the clock in the red. Six of their 10 summer signings walked through the door in the final 48 hours, a late flurry that spoke of urgency as much as ambition.
Dutch midfielder Joel van den Berg arrived from PSV Eindhoven, Swiss right-back Jordan Lotomba from Feyenoord, both signed just before Wednesday night’s UEFA registration deadline. Before that, the champions had already tied up four loans: Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, Parma midfielder Oliver Sorensen and Chelsea teenagers Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo.
Not all of them could be squeezed into Europe.
The Chelsea pair and Van den Berg missed out on Celtic’s Europa League squad, victims of a limited list rather than a lack of faith.
“I’m delighted to get players. Genuinely pleased,” O’Neill said, before pointing to the harsh reality of UEFA paperwork. Some of the younger faces, he admitted, would be “disappointed” at being left out, but there were only so many slots to fill.
His contentment is built on a simple condition: keep the core fit.
“If we can avoid serious injury to the players here, people not being out for endless lengths of time, then I’m happy with it.”
Celtic’s rivals had largely finished shopping before the final week. The champions, bruised by their Champions League exit and short at left-back with Kieran Tierney injured, were still plugging obvious gaps while the window ticked down.
The timing of the business has been a recurring theme. O’Neill sounded weary when the question came again.
“How many times are you going to ask me that each week?” he snapped lightly. “We started this in July time. So I’m pleased with the players that we’ve got in.
“We’ve got them in and I genuinely want to get on with it now. So, ideally, it would be great to have got players in earlier to get them bedded in. It doesn’t matter. Happy, really happy to have the players that we have.”
One pursuit that didn’t materialise was Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis. O’Neill shrugged that off.
“No, I’m really pleased with what we have now at this minute. So, honestly, not a problem.”
The shape of the squad tells its own story. Four loans in Johnstone, Sorensen, Mheuka and Emenalo, with Lotomba only contracted until the end of the season. It’s a short-term edge to a club that usually talks in long-term cycles.
O’Neill knows the risk.
“I sometimes concern myself about loan players coming in and maybe not seeing the club that they’re going to as the club that they really want to play for,” he said, ahead of Saturday’s Premiership meeting with St Mirren, a game that will again come too soon for Tierney and Kasper Hogh.
But he has seen the other side. Julian Araujo, borrowed last season, is his reference point.
“He took the club to heart last season and that was great. Honestly, he would have done anything for the club. So, from that viewpoint, you’re never sure.
“Loans are sometimes a bit of a concern, but it depends on the player.”
The message is clear: the tools are there. No more talk about windows. Celtic’s veteran manager wants the noise to stop and the football to start.
McInnes’ Rangers rebuilt in the trenches
Across the city, McInnes sounded like a man emerging from a storm.
He has brought 14 new faces into Rangers. The final two came on deadline day, the last acts of what he called “the longest window I’ve ever known”.
Portland Timbers striker Kevin Kelsy, a 22-year-old Venezuelan, arrived on an initial four-year deal with an option of a fifth, in a move reportedly worth around £9.5m. Algeria winger Badredine Bouanani joined on a season-long loan from Stuttgart. Both go straight into the squad for Saturday’s Premiership clash with Motherwell.
“We all took a huge sigh of relief when the window closed yesterday and we get on with the job in hand,” McInnes said.
“It feels like I’ve been to war this window, to be honest. It feels like the longest window I’ve ever known. There’s always so much to consider.”
The war has not just been about signings. It has been about the dressing room he wants to build, and the type of character he will tolerate.
“At Rangers, I don’t want to work with players who just see what’s next and what’s next after this, always maybe eagerly eyeing up other opportunities.
“I want people who want to be here, who want to hang about the club for a period of time and want to be successful here.”
He believes the club offers enough to demand that loyalty.
“This club can provide so much opportunity and so many good moments for a player, manager and the like.
“I just want us to commit to being here and put all our focus on the club. The club is deserving of that. The players are deserving of each other, to get that tightness and closeness.”
The tone shifts when he talks about the current group. The last few weeks, he says, have felt different.
“I need to say the dressing room, particularly over the last couple of weeks, has been so strong and so together.
“It actually feels like a football dressing room. The humour, the togetherness and how we work has felt far more like what I would expect my dressing rooms to look like and behave like.”
That togetherness has already been tested. Rangers came through “adversity and stinging results” and then hit back with two tough away wins at Falkirk and Aberdeen.
“That spirit and togetherness helps you get through difficult times, and you need that at any club, but particularly here.”
He has a young squad, and he knows it.
“We are a very young dressing room. That is exciting and there is a lot of potential, but there are also lots of learnings for these young boys.
“It’s our job to help them fulfil that potential in a Rangers shirt, day in and day out.”
Standards, he insists, cannot slip.
“I just want the players not to waste their minutes or opportunities.
“Whether they’re picked or training, don’t see any day as a lazy day. We’re not going to accept bad practice here.
“Every day has to be important. You train with motivation, professionally, and as if you’re trying to get into the team on a Saturday.”
There is some good news on the injury front. Left-back Tuur Rommens, out with a groin strain, is expected to return to full training between the two upcoming games against Celtic, a timely boost for a manager who wants continuity as much as competition.
The window has shut. The noise, briefly, will die down. O’Neill has his patched, experienced champions and a clutch of carefully chosen loans. McInnes has his rebuilt, youthful Rangers and a dressing room he finally recognises as his own.
Now comes the part that really counts: which of these two very different squads will still look satisfied when the season’s pressure really bites?
