Celtic legend feels club failed despite spending £12 million on transfers
Chris Sutton has criticised Celtic’s transfer policy and believes that they have failed to improve the squad despite spending £12 million on new signings in the transfer market.
As a player, Chris Sutton spent 6 seasons at Celtic Park scoring 86 goals and winning 8 trophies in the process. Since retiring from football, Sutton has become a pundit for BT Sport and in recent years has been very critical of how Celtic is being run.
The latest of his criticisms is regarding the club’s signings in the current transfer window which he believes has not done enough to improve a Celtic squad that failed to qualify for last season’s Champions League group stage.
Talking about the club’s upcoming third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League against CFR Cluj, Sutton said:
“I can’t help but feel his club have gambled again at just the wrong time.
“You can’t argue with the fact they have spent £12million to replace the defenders who left, but, realistically, that’s £12m spent just to stay still. Celtic were filling gaps which had been emptied.
“In terms of adding, not much has actually happened and Romania on Wednesday night is where we’ll really find out if that’ll be costly.
“Celtic have done well in their four qualifiers so far, but Cluj are a big step up. My old team-mate Dan Petrescu is a wily operator and he’s got an experienced side.
“Lennon can afford no passengers in this tie or it’ll be AEK Athens 12 months ago all over again.
“There are still too many grey areas for me at Celtic. Questions to be answered. They need more full-back cover, they need some freshness in the midfield and they need another striker.
“If they get caught down the right-back area as they were against AEK and it costs them their place in the Champions League, there’s going to be some outcry and they will have to face the music.
“Leigh Griffiths still has it all to prove and it’s fine saying Vakoun Bayo will be alright as a back-up, but alright isn’t enough this season.
“Alright won’t cut it. They can’t just rely on Odsonne Edouard and, if Griffiths can’t get back his best, they have issues at the top of the pitch as well as a backline yet to prove itself.
“Celtic need players to step up to get the season going or they might be in a sticky position.”
Transfer News. Arsenal will make third bid for Celtic star. light
While Sutton believes Celtic need new signings, the club’s biggest concern at this moment would be keeping hold of their talented 22-year-old left-back, Kieran Tierney, who has been continuously linked with Arsenal. With reports suggesting that the Premier League giants will be making a third bid for Tierney, the Hoops are in danger of giving up serious ground to their Premiership rivals if they let the Scottish international leave.