It is not every day you will find a team willing to publicly embrace their ‘selling club’ tag.
But Celtic know only too well that, in order to both survive and thrive in a market where the money tends to pool below the border, that a buy-low, sell-high transfer policy is something of a necessity. Not the only way to succeed. But maybe the best, and most sustainable model available to them.
Celtic are proof, too, of how it can work pretty effectively.
The reigning Scottish Premiership champions have dominated the domestic landscape over the last decade despite losing Virgil van Dijk, Odsonne Edouard, Jota, Kristoffer Ajer, Moussa Dembele, Jeremie Frimpong and Kieran Tierney in that time.
You would not bet against Celtic making a considerable profit on the likes of Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley and co in the near future either.
Adam Idah, meanwhile, is very much a typical Hoops sort of signing. Young, hungry, brimming with potential in both footballing and financial terms.
Idah only turned 23 in February too. And no wonder Celtic want him back after nine goals in 19 games following his arrival on loan from Norwich City in January.
Celtic want Norwich City loanee Adam Idah back in Glasgow
HITC understands that Brendan Rodgers’ side are hoping to do a deal for around £5 million. Norwich want closer to £8 million, with compromises maybe required on both sides.
But with Norwich fully embracing their ‘selling club’ model, the message Celtic can take out of sporting director Ben Knapper’s comments is that there is a deal there to be done for Idah. Albeit at the right price.
“There’s always pressure on us here (to sell) because that’s our model,” Knapper explains to the Pink Un. “Whether we have to (sell) or we don’t, we want to and that’s what we define as success as well.
“Of course, we always want to build a team that can win games and get promotion. That’s always going to be the ambition. But as well as doing that, in order to be sustainable we have to try (and raise funds via selling players).
“So we put pressure on ourselves to do that. Every summer is no different in that respect.”
Norwich coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said last week that he would be ‘stupid’ to let Idah go without running the rule over the Republic of Ireland international in pre-season. Celtic, then, may be left with a rather awkward wait as they look to discover what the future holds for the man who scored a last-gasp winner in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden Park.
Knapper, meanwhile, accepts that any decision Norwich make will be in conjunction with Thorup’s own demands.
Scottish Cup final hero under Brendan Rodgers
“That’s kind of where we are and lots of conversations on-going at the minute. But it’s so important that Johannes gets that chance to look at the squad and evaluate as well. And we’ll be speaking continually all the way through the window,” the director adds.
“That’s always the way that we work; Our relationship here is about trying to push each other and to challenge each other. We want to get better.
“As ever, it would just be a conversation and ultimately trying to arrive at what we think is the best thing to do for the organisation.”
Idah’s potential arrival could be the deciding factor in Oh Hyeon-Gyu’s own Celtic fate. The South Korean barely featured after the January window.
There is reportedly interest from Belgian giants KRC Genk. But with Celtic maybe reluctant to make a final call until the uncertainty surrounding Idah is dispelled, Genk are reportedly considering alternative striker targets too, via Het Belang van Limburg.
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