Celtic's Reputation in the Transfer Market

One throwaway comment on a Dutch website summed up the reputation that Celtic have in the transfer market. Laughingly rejected.

Not by PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord or Ajax but by Go Ahead Eagles, true they are the Dutch Cup holders but finished the Eredivisie in seventh place, winning 14 of their 34 matches. Their stadium, De Aldaashost has a capacity of 10,400.

A shining light in that campaign was Jakob Breum, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists from his 24 appearances.

Impressive but not outstanding, not in a Nicolas Kuhn type way. Como won’t be chasing Breum, not yet but he has the profile that really should be highlighted by Celtic’s recruitment process.

Breum is a Danish u-21 internationalist, over the last decade the Danes have been one of the top 10 nations in Europe, Matt O’Riley was a regular in the Danish u-21 side which illustrates their calibre.

Whether it is Paul Tisdale or someone else Celtic have identified Breum as a first team player, a successor to Kuhn. Surely he is valued at more than £1.5m? The sort of fee wasted two years ago on the dubious talent of Marco Tilio from the A-League.

Breum has caught the eye at a very decent level, the Eredivisie has two clubs going directly into the Champions League, currently it is sitting at six in the UEFA co-efficient table, the best of the rest outside of the top five leagues.

And yet in a throwaway line Voetbal International reported:

The Scots made an initial offer of €1.5 million earlier this summer, which Go Ahead laughingly rejected. Celtic recently raised their offer twice, but the transfer fee was nowhere near what Go Ahead wanted for the Dane.

Last night the reliable Stephen McGowan had an update, it didn’t equate to good news on The Celtic Way:

Celtic have had three approaches turned down by Go Ahead Eagles to sign winger Jakob Breum, reports The Herald’s Stephen McGowan.

The 21-year-old scored 11 goals and provided five assists in 31 appearances for the Eredivisie side last season.

Eagles are waiting to see whether Celtic return to the table with a fourth offer.

Their initial bid was £1.5 million. That was soon upped to £1.75m plus add-ons, before another offer of £3m was knocked back.

The Dutch Cup holders have placed a price tag of €7.5m (£6.5m) on Breum.

With some skilled negotiations the price tag could be trimmed to somewhere between £5-6m, starting off at 1,5m whether it is pounds or euros isn’t going to get you off on the right footing.

So far Celtic are sitting on a transfer surplus of around £15m, Brendan Rodgers is looking at winger options minus Kuhn and Jota.

That leaves him with a guy that is probably more effective as a striker, a 34-year-old, someone who has a deal to go to Rapid Vienna on hold and Yang Hyun-jun.

To be effective Rodgers needs to have four fully firing wingers in his squad, two ready to play wingers are required for a Champions League Play Off in three weeks time.

There are three matches to be played before the Play Off first leg, St Mirren and Falkirk at home either side of a trip to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Breum and Michel-Ange Balikwisha could be signed this week, train with their new team-mates and be involved against St Mirren- but not while Celtic bids are laughingly rejected.

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