Celtic fans have been left worried by how slow the club have moved in this summer transfer window and regarding the quality of the signings as well, as there are question marks about how many of them are ready to contribute to the first-team. For some reason, that rarely appeared to be an issue during the Ange Postecoglou era.
During the Australian's two years in charge at Celtic, the club showed an uncharacteristic swiftness in the transfer market that we had not seen before or since. And while big transfer fees were not shelled out, the scouting was immense, and some brilliant signings were made as a result.
Of course, that does not mean that Celtic ended up getting all their targets during the Postecoglou era. They certainly missed out on quite a few.
One of them was Malick Thiaw. He was at Schalke at that point. And in the summer of 2022, there were reports that the defender was in talks with Celtic, who were looking for a replacement for Christopher Jullien at the time. Ultimately a move to Parkhead did not happen and he ended up joining AC Milan for a €7 million transfer package.
Ange Postecoglou target Celtic didn't sign completes €40m move
Well, it would be safe to say that Thiaw has gone from strength to strength since then. He spent the last three years at AC Milan and has now completed a permanent switch to Newcastle United.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano, the move is for a €36m fixed fee plus €4m add-ons. Thiaw has signed a four-year contract with Newcastle United.
Let's see how things go for Thiaw in the Premier League. He is still just 24 years old and is only going to get better. Over the years, we have seen some defenders move from Serie A and struggle to adjust to the pace of the English top flight.
Thiaw's growth does show the importance of not only scouting the right players but then making moves for them, when convinced about their talents. The club should not be passing up players of that potential just over small differences in transfer valuation, which they seem to be doing quite often in this current summer window, if reports in the media are indeed accurate.